Snake Eater Digistyle COMPLETE
by the7joker7
Summary: DigimonMGS3: Snake Eater Crossover. The digidestined aren't the united front they once were, changing with the times. What madness will Takeru find on his mission under Tai to save Joe?
1. Chapter 1

Alright, I don't own Digimon, or Konami, so credit to them for the basis of all of this. Now, I've done my best to stick to the Metal Gear Solid games in creating this, but occasionally I have to break away in a few small ways, so just let it go.

Also, for those who haven't played Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, let it be known that this fanfiction does contain massive spoilers for the game. If you have not played it, and intend to, and wish to be suprised by the story, you may not want to read.

And please, leave reviews with your thoughts. The more reviews I get the more likely I am to see this through.

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Chapter 1: Introduction

When we had found it, it was like a infant. Unmarred by the flaws of the human world. Sure, it wasn't perfect, but it was innocent. Things were simple, and humans weren't around to complicate things. We had hoped things might stay that way. Our hope was false.

After Malomyotismon fell, the digital world was open to everyone. And with them, came the complications of our species. I almost hate to say it, but I wonder if sometimes we just made things worse.

Now, fifteen years have passed since the digital world was open to corruption by the politics of the humans. The humans and digimon alike are always fighting, always dividing themselves from the rest, turning it into what earth had been for so long. Even the digidestined couldn't survive this corruption. It didn't seem possible, but over time, even this band of friends had gone their own ways. It was a new, complicated time. Not easy for anyone.

"Approaching eastern airspace. Altitude 30,000. Flying over Baltum." Crackled the radio.

As of now, though there were some smaller divisons of minor difference, the world was divided primarily in two. The east, and the west. Scary how this world mocked the real one.

"Dropoff time, twenty minutes...commencing depressurization."

The two sides may have tried to act as if they got along, but it was a farce. At best, they managed a frosty relationship. The world powers managed a happy face in public, but each held weapons of great power, ready to strike the other down at the smallest suspicion. The digimon were not spared this, they were forced to take sides and have a hand in all of this.

Through all of this, Takeru did what he could to stay loyal. But perhaps he mistook loyalty for following Tai like a puppy. He was always ready to serve Tai, to follow his orders, to listen to him. All around him, people he had worked by left for their own ideas of what was right and what was wrong. Perhaps he was just terrified of this. Perhaps his own emotion had been killed over the years.

"Equipment check...arm main parachute."

"All right. You ready to go?" Tai's voice came in through the radio. No matter what, these last fifteen years, he had stood by his side. Somehow, he just felt right, like he knew what he was doing and nobody else did. Probably not true. But TK needed to believe in something. Even if it was a lie, he had to make himself believe something, or what would he be?

"Good visibility." The pilot voiced in.

Tai looked over the instrument panel, reading the complicated mass of information. He looked over at Mimi, working on her own computer cautiously. She looked back. They seemed so distant these days, all of them. They were barely friends, more like business partners. Rough times. When was the last time Tai had looked at her as a person that he cared about?

A man opened the door behind Tai, connecting the cockpit to the cargo hold, stepping into the hold. TK sat in the corner, hunched over, holding a lit cigar. "Put out the cigar." TK ignored him. The pilot connected a oxygen hose to a helmet, handing it to him. "Put on the helmet." TK just looked at the cargo hold door, still non-responsive.

The man walked back to the door, sticking his head in. "Are you sure this guy knows what he's doing?"

Tai shrugged.

"Ten minutes to dropoff." The pilot told TK a bit later, presenting the helmet to him. TK still did nothing.

"Are you deaf?" Tai said over the radio. Finally, TK got up. He tossed the cigar to the ground, stepping on it as he walked past it, and grabbed the helmet. He slipped it on and the man began to attach various straps and hoses around his suit. Soon, he was ready.

"Six minutes." Came the call over the radio. "Opening rear hatch." Slowly, the rear hatch creaked open, revealing the sunrise from 30,000 feet up. The plane continued to zip through the air towards the droppoint at great speed, sending chilling winds into the chamber. "Temperature minus 46 degrees Celsius." TK looked out at the vast expansion of forest below him, his suit flapping about him in protest of the winds.

"You'll be falling at 130 miles an hour." Tai's voice buzzed in. "Try not to get frostbite." TK smiled under his helmet. How long had any of us cared about the others on a personal level? Perhaps they still did, somehow, deep down...but shows of emotion had not been allowed for a long time. There wasn't any time for that.

"Two minutes. Take the position." TK stepped up to the very edge of the platform, looking down into the trees. He had never actually done this before...in simulation, perhaps, but this was a whole new deal.

"One minute." TK wished it would hurry up and get here. Patamon stirred restlessly in his backpack. Apperantly, he agreed. TK closed his eyes, preparing himself, running over the events of the last few days in his head again. He hadn't felt the rush of a really tough mission for the honor of the digidestined in a long time.

"Standby...10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1..."

TK fell out of the hatch, Tai's voice buzzing in his ear. "Spread your wings and fly! God be with you!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The mission

-Three days ago-

"TK, we've done it." Tai began as he crashed the door into TK's apartment down. "We've been given the green light for the Virtuous mission!"

"Virtual mission?"

"No, virtuous mission. The future of this unit depends on it. If it suceeds, the president will officially organize us into a unit."

"Sounds like some sort of initiation ritual."

"Don't get cocky. You haven't done anything this dangerous in years."

"Then what is this wonderful mission?" TK asked, finally turning to face Tai.

"Well...about two years ago, a scientist working in the east requested asylum in the west through one of our moles. You might remember him. Joe Kido. In the east, he headed the OKB-754 Design Bureau, and is their foremost expert on weapons development."

"Of course I remember Joe. He pioneered that whole DNA-Robotic Digimon project thing."

"Yes. Some years ago, the east achieved the first forced DNA digivolutions between two completely unrelated Digimon in history. Joe developed the idea, and later combined it with technology. After that, he went from a lowly technician to head of his own bureau."

"Quite the success story, one I'd expect Joe to have. But why did he want to defect?"

"It seems he had become afraid of his own creations."

"Afraid?" TK recalled, for a brief moment, the paranoid Joe of old when they had first come to the digital world. Some things never changed.

"Call it a crisis of conscience. Playing god can't be an easy thing to do, I imagine. He wanted to be reunited with me, to hide behind me so he wouldn't have to do it anymore."

"So he left his family behind to go over the fence?"

"Not exactly. One of his conditions was that his family was also to be taken safely to the west. Using moles we got his family out, and then him. I conducted the operation."

TK nodded, realizing now how poorly he had tracked the digidestined as they went about their lives in recent years. "Then?"

"We managed to get him out, but the whole ordeal left him exhausted, so he checked into a hospital. It had taken him two weeks to get out, and he was in no position to say anything coherent. Before he could make a full recovery, we had a bigger disaster on our hands."

"The Snimon fiasco?"

"Indeed. April 15th, 2014, President Banks received word that the east were in the process of deploying Snimon onto Benson Island. Now, Benson Island had always been neutral in any war, so this was a big deal. Furthermore, the Snimon were supposedly modified in ways that had made them much more powerful than normal. Benson Island was quite close to the heart of the west, and was therefore considered a major threat. Banks demanded the Digimon be removed and sent back to the east. But they didn't back down, and instead placed their forces on secondary alert. The whole world prepared for what seemed to be an inevitable all-out war. Finally, two weeks after it began, the eastern forces agreed to pull out of Benson."

"In exchange for the west pulling their own forces out of Morgan, right?"

"Not quite. That was a cover story. The forces in Morgan were too small and too weak to mean anything at that point. Pulling them out or leaving them would mean nothing to either side. The east really wanted Joe back."

"The east pulled out of Benson...just to get Joe back?"

"Yes. At the time, we had no choice but to agree, or else risk a war that could destroy the entire world. I was there when the men pulled Joe from his hospital bed. He kept screaming "Save me!" until I couldn't hear him anymore."

"Why was he worth so much?"

"At the time, we didn't know. But a month ago, a mole finally delivered some information concerning it. He was taken to a research facility, being forced to continue work on a project by the east. It's a weapon, and it's nearly completion."

"Involving the DNA-Techo stuff?"

"Yes. We don't know the details, but it appears to be extremely powerful. And the east has been conducting frequent bomb tests lately that come down with the force of something nuclear, so something in that realm. All we know for sure is this was worth so much to Gagarin, he was willing to give up a chance to take Benson for the east to get it."

"And now we have to save Joe?"

"Yes, he's in a holding place in these mountains." He indicated a place on the map of the digital world in TK's room. "About three miles to the west of the facility."

"What's he doing there?"

"They're conducting a field test of the weapon and needed him to be somewhere else. It's nigh-impossible to try a rescue attempt when he's in the facility, so this marks our best and only chance to save him."

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TK plummented towards the ground, keeping small to keep wind resistance to a minimum. Tai was still buzzing in his ear. He wished he would stop, couldn't it wait for when he was on the ground.

"Alright, operation commencing. Your mission is to infiltrate the holding place, ensure Joe's safety, and bring him back to the west. If he's allowed to complete that weapon, we'll be facing a major crisis."

TK reached over and grabbed the cord. He tugged hard, and the parachute puffed out of his backpack, instantly slowing him down in his fall.

"Once you have him, go to the recovery point. A recovery balloon will be there, which will then be filled with helium. Once that's done, the gunship arm will latch onto the balloon and pull it up."

"Interesting. In theory." TK said cautiously as he looked down at his landing area.

"Calm down, it's been proven in combat situations."

"The Joe I know wouldn't be able to handle it."

"He doesn't have a choice. And it's not as bad as you probably think. Now, we're facing a four hour time limit with the fuel we have. You should have plenty of time. I can't see this taking more than three."

"Home in time for dinner."

"But as you know, if anything goes wrong, you'll be eating dinner, breakfast, and all the rest of your meals down in that jungle."

TK fell through the canopy of trees, counting inside his head. Then, the time came, and he pulled the release cord on his parachute. It broke off, just in time for TK to go into a fall right at the edge of a cliff.

Slowly, he got up, feeling himself making sure he was alright. He pulled at the tubes of his suit, then finally, removed his helmet. Running his fingers through his blonde hair slowly, he heard Tai talking again into his ear.

"Do you copy? You're already in enemy territory, so be careful. For security purposes, we're to use codenames for each other from here on out. Your codename is Naked Snake. I'll refer to you as Snake. Use of your real name is not allowed from now on."

"Snake?"

"You don't like snakes?"

He pulled his backpack open, and Patamon quietly hopped out. "Well...not per se, but-"

"You've eaten one before, haven't you?"

"Well, yes. I wouldn't exactly order one, but-"

"You might not have a choice if this mission doesn't work out."

"Let's not talk about that. What about you?"

"Hmm...I'll be...Tom. Call me...Major Tom."

"Alright, Major Tom."

"Now, let's go over this again. Both of you." Patamon had the same radio system inside his head. "This is a sneaking mission. You must not be seen, and you can not leave traces of your presence. You can't make noise, you can't get involved in battles, this is about stealth. If you need a weapon beyond the knife you have at some point, you'll have to find one on site. You're practically naked, as your name implies."

"Sounds crazy."

"This is the kind of thing Banks expected when he agreed to our deal. Now remember, footprints, weapons, equipment, sweat, bodily fluids...anything...can't be left behind. Your presence is a clear violation of international conventions of warfare. It could spark a war if you're discovered. If you are captured, their will be no rescue attempted, and we will deny any involvement in this affair."

"Alright, I'll just have to take care of myself."

"Yes. You have been given a fake death pill, however, which you may be able to use to free yourself if captured. It's taped to your body. Take it when you're captured, and it will send you into a state of false death for a short time, making them believe you're dead."

"How generous of you."

"To revive again, take the pill they put in your tooth yesterday. The revival pill. But wait too long and nothing will be able to bring you back."

"Gotcha."

"We've got a support team on the radio backing you up, however, so you're not completely alone. There's me, and Mimi, as you know. Mimi is serving as your medic, of sorts. That's a very special suit you've got on, TK. You see, through her computer, she'll be able to regenerate and heal wounds you might sustain in this mission faster than normal. You'll be able to take more gunshots, burns, explosions, and hits than you're used to."

"Good to know."

"But be careful. It doesn't make you invincible. Far from it. You're best off avoiding confrontation. Also, your suit has the ability to blend in with your surroundings. It will change pattern and color based on the color of your current location. Use it to the best of your abilities. And remember, from now on, you can use the radio using your mind. If your in a area where you need to keep quiet, but need to talk to us, just think it in your mind, and we'll be able to pick it up."

"Nice."

Mimi's voice rang in. "Good luck. Your vitals all clock in at normal. Good to go."

"Oh yes. There's one more person I want to introduce you to. Not that it's really an introduction I suppose."

Sora's voice rang through TK's ear. "Is that you, TK?"

"Snake, please." Tai responded.

"Right. Is that you, snake?"

TK was shocked for a second, but then he almost smiled. He hadn't heard from, or of, Sora in a long time. The old group was somehow coming back together. And it felt...right.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Perception

"You remember Sora, right?" Tai asked TK through the codec. "Though from now on, refer to her as...hmm...love?" A reference to the emotion she carried into battle, of her crest of old.

"How many years has it been?"

TK just crouched their on the ground, not quite sure what to say (or think!). He creeped into a nearby bush to buy some time to think. He hadn't seen Sora in...

"Talk to me. Come on, let me hear your voice."

"Twelve years I believe, give or take."

"You've lost weight."

"You can tell just by hearing my voice?"

"Of course. I still know all about you, even after all this time."

"Really." He peered over the bush, a sentry walked by. He was taking his time going around the area. TK had some time to kill while he passed through. "Well, I don't know anything about you."

"Oh, Snake...not this."

"You disappeared all of a sudden on us! What was that?"

"I was doing...undercover stuff. I couldn't talk about it. I had to drop off the radar. And you didn't need me anymore. None of us really needed each other anymore, most of us went our separate ways."

"No...some of us still needed each other." He thought of how he had clung to Tai whatever happened.

"There are some things you have to learn on your own, you know. I gave you what I had."

"But...it would have been nice to have you around, there's much I-"

"I can't teach you how to think. Find that out for yourself." She gave an audible sigh. "Listen, Snake. Just because people are on the same side now doesn't mean they always will be. You can't have personal feelings with people in these times, it's one of the worst sins you can commit. Politics determine who you face on the battlefield. And they change with the times. Yesterday's good can be tomorrow's evil."

"And that's why you just left?"

"No, I already told you why. I had to do what I had to do. In this day and age, we're political tools. Friends, enemies, right wrong...it makes no difference. We know what we have to do and we do it. That's our lot in life."

"I don't care about politics. I just do the job."

"Sooner or later, your conscience will get to you. There's a saying. "Loyalty to the end." Do you know what it means, Snake?"

"Being...patriotic?"

"It means devoting yourself to your country, to your leaders."

"I follow Major Tom, and the president. I'll die for him if I have to."

"He won't be there forever, nor will the president."

"I'll always follow the will of the leader."

"You don't understand. People's values change over time. Their's no such thing as an absolute enemy, they are enemies only in relative terms, constantly changing with the times."

TK peered back over the bush. The sentry was almost through. But he wanted to finish this.

"What's your point?"

"As long as we have loyalty to the end...there's no point in believing in anything. Even in those we...love." Jesus, Sora had changed. These weren't easy times, but you couldn't even recognize her anymore. "You can only believe in what you have to do. The mission. You can't depend on people."

"All right. I get it." He looked down at the ground. She had a point, he supposed. "It's good to hear your voice again at any rate."

"You better get going." Tai finally broke in. TK looked up and saw the guard had passed through. "Oh, yes, one more thing. When you find Joe, give him a message from me. "Sorry for being so late.""

"Gotcha."

TK crept ahead, the conversation with Sora sinking into his mind. But he couldn't think about that now. He had a job.

"Why do you have to be orange? Why don't you just hold up a sign that says 'I'm here, shoot me?'" TK asked Patamon.

"Bite me." Patamon said stiffly, walking ahead.

At first, the path was relatively clear. But after a short walk, they came across some more guards. Humans and digimon alike.

"Alright..." TK got down in some tall grass. "Let's see...AKs...grenade...couple of pumpkinmon's...routine stuff." He reported, checking it out through his binoculars. "Patamon, you go ahead, I'm not gonna let my cover get blown by your orange ass."

Sticking his nose up in the air, he fluttered up to a branch. He could pass as a bird so long as he didn't get too close. He fluttered from branch to branch.

TK crawled forward, his suit changing color to go with the ground around him. It was really quite an amazing effect. He made his way around the sentries, as Patamon continued to jump trees. It was all about being one with nature. The trees, the grass, the dirt...it concealed him. But he soon came across an opportunity he couldn't pass up. He was directly behind a guard who had his ears covered by earphones, listening to music. Completely oblivious to TK behind him.

"Screw this." He said, going right behind him. Putting his hand over his mouth, he shoved his knife into his throat. Blood spurted like a fountain from the orifice for a moment. He set the corpse down in the grass, grabbing himself his pistol. He wouldn't use it...unless he had to. But he wanted to have it. It was nice security.

"Good. If you have to kill someone, keep it like that." Tai rang into his ear. "Though it be nice if you could cool it with the blood. And keep cool with the gun."

He came to a long rope bridge across a canyon that seemed to have no bottom. "Great. Joe's gonna have a great time with this." He slowly crossed it, the smallest gust of wind almost sending him to his death several times.

Up ahead at the end, Patamon was waiting for him in a tree. "Sora's changed. I don't like it."

"We can't think about that. This whole situation has changed everyone. And she's right. If we're to be soldiers, we can't let personnel feelings get in the way, ever."

"What about me, TK? Do you have personnel feelings for me?"

TK just moved forward, not answering. "I don't know." He finally said, moving forward. "It hasn't been tested in so long."

The awkward conversation was halted. They had turned a corner, and found a ruined set of buildings, guarded by about a dozen sentries. "Found it." TK buzzed into Tai.

"Alright. Remember, Joe can not be put in any danger whatsoever."

"Err...we've got about a dozen guards all over the place."

"Are you sure? I mean...it is Joe...seems overkill." TK agreed privately. One guard could have easily kept Joe from trying to escape. "Well, do whatever you have to do I suppose. But the rules still apply."

TK creeped forward, crouched. He looked around from behind a tree, searching for the easy kill. Patamon jumped forward into a tree right above one of the guards. He poked a hornet's nest, sending it crashing to the ground right next to him. He yelled as the hornets swarmed to him, stinging him repeatedly and starting to cover his whole body. He ran towards the ruined structure, sending all the other guards into a frenzy.

TK couldn't help but laugh as they ran around like morons. It was capped off when one of them tripped and somehow pulled the pin on his grenade. It ended spectacularly, taking out seven men with it's explosion. The explosion caused the remaining guards to instinctively draw their AK's, thinking it was an enemy attack. But then some hornet's moved in on them, and they reflexively shot at them wildly. As it turned out, they all ended up shooting each other.

"Son of a _bitch."_ Was all TK had to say. "Just...wow."

"Let's go." Patamon flew forward.

"Alright, check the northeast corner, there should be a door. Joe's in the room.

Proceeding through the garbage, half-destroyed walls and various other debris towards what appeared to be the only totally standing room, TK could only glare at Patamon. "I take years of training, and you beat a dozen trained sentries by poking a hornet's nest?"

"That ever come up in your training?" Patamon said proudly.

TK just shook his head, as he pushed the red door open.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Visitors from the past

Joe stood over a fire in the corner, mumbling to himself nervously, burning papers one by one. TK took three steps into the middle of the room, and Joe didn't even notice him.

"How's it going?"

Joe turned around suddenly, almost dropping the papers. "You're with Volgin, aren't you?" He chucked the pile into the fire. "You'll never get it from me!"

"Calm down." He put his gun at his side. "Don't tell me you don't recognize me."

Joe looked his face over. Then, comprehension flooded his face. "Takeru? You're here? What are you doing here?" He wasn't completely convinced yet. "What do you want?"

"Calm down. I'm an SFS agent. Tai sent me. I'm here to take you back."

Joe stepped forward oddly, as if he wasn't used to walking. "Tai sent you?"

"Yeah. He had a message for you. Sorry for being so late."

"I see..." Joe nodded, looking out the lone window in the small dirty room.

"What does it mean?"

"That he's a man of his word." Joe walked up close to TK. "But we've got to get out of here, before he comes to get me!" He threw another worried look out the window before turning his gaze back to TK.

"Who's he?"

Joe paused for a second before answering. "Colonel Volgin of GRU. In the west he is known as thunderbolt."

TK just shrugged, still unsure of who he meant.

"He's a member of the extremist faction of the army. He wants to seize control of Buffet." Buffet was the primary continent that made up to the east. "Ever since that Snimon incident, Gagarin has been trying to develop a peace policy with the west." He began to pace nervously. "He's managed to hold off those against it to this point, but the failure of some of his policies have made it difficult. And, of course, the assassination of President Banks recently has, in a sense, cost Gagarin his greatest supporter." Joe threw another glance outside. "His power base crumbles every day. A certain group plans to use this chance to take over and install Brezhnev in his place. The mastermind is this Volgin. He has a secret weapons facility much like mine close to here, known as the Granin design bureau. But now he wants to kidnap me, and seize the weapon I have been developing. I suspect they plan to make their move today."

"Which explains the guards outside?"

"Yes, they weren't here to keep me in, but to keep them out. Keep them from capturing me, even if it meant killing me as it seems. But we have to go now, he's coming, and I must be gone when he arrives."

"Alright." TK headed back outside, peering around edges for new guards as Joe followed cautiously. "Major Tom, I've got Joe, he's doing fine. Heading to recovery point now."

"Good. See you there. Also, you should know that we seem to have lost contact with love. She was transmitting from a submarine in the ocean not far from here, probably just a weak signal."

TK crept ahead, Joe following behind. "Oh yeah, where's Gomamon?"

"I don't know." Joe answered, clearly agitated. "He escaped to the west with my family years ago...but when I was given back he wasn't able to come along. I hope he didn't try to rescue me and get caught...I bet he did too."

"Don't worry. He'll be alright."

Suddenly, guards popped up from all around them. "Freeze!" TK spun around, holding his gun out. A glance at the badges they wore showed they were of BAF (Buffet Armed Forces). They moved in, surrounding the two. "Drop the weapon!" One demanded. TK threw it to the ground.

Then, footsteps sounded in the distance. A few of them turned to face this new threat. Another familiar face.

Ken was slowly walking up toward the group, spinning a pistol on his finger. Wormmon sat on his shoulder.

"Why hello there." He said, apperantly to TK and Joe, not acknowledging the guards at first. "It's been awhile."

A guard considered Ken and Wormmon. "You're...you're from GRU! What do you think you're doing here?"

Another guard interjected. "He's a commander...Ichijouji!"

"That's Major Ichijouji to you. And don't you forget it."

"Kido is ours, now get out of here." A few guards turned their weapons towards Ken.

"We never let our prey escape."He adjusted his hat.

"What?!"

Ken raised his pistol, and blew the head off the nearest guard. He pivoted to the next, continuing to cut through the guards. All the while, Wormon opened his mouth and was shooting his own bullets at the other guards, it was quite a bit of fancy shooting, and it all happened before any of the guards could think to try and shoot back. A guard on the roof witnessed it all, and out of terror, ducked behind a broken wall. Ken looked up at his hiding spot, laughed, and bounced a bullet off a metal pole a little off the hiding place. It landed neatly in his skull.

Ken looked down at the first guard he had shot. He wasn't quite dead. Ken saw to it that this didn't last long with his last bullet. He ejected the clip, and began reloading.

"I can't say it feels good to kill a comrade." He cocked the gun back. "Even if it is for the GRU."

"Joe, go hide."

"How sad, Takeru. All this time, you follow Tai around, like you don't have any opinions or thoughts of your own. Always the soldier."

He quietly whistled, and more guards popped up from all around. These wore different uniforms.

"GRU!" Cried Joe. He was apperantly frozen to the spot. Ken was ejecting the first bullet in his gun manually.

"Now, to die like the dog you are!" Ken announced, pointing his gun at TK. He pulled the trigger, but his gun jammed. He shook it, pulling the trigger a few more times. TK ran up to Ken and punched him square in the chest, knocking him backwards. Joe yelled and finally ran off in a dead sprint towards the rope bridge.

"Commander!" Cried a guard. The guards were confused between chasing Joe and dealing with TK.

"Leave him, shoot this one!" He yelled, pointing at TK.

"Keep it small and quiet." TK whispered to Patamon as he flew for Wormmon. Wormmon appeared to be in the process of digivolving, but Patamon managed to tackle him first. They fell to the ground, fighting.

"Nice modification, you tool of science." Patamon threw at Wormmon as his wings beat down on him.

"I've attained abilities you can only dream of!" Wormmon insisted.

Meanwhile, TK had grabbed the collar of a guard before they could follow Ken's order, and flipped him over his shoulder. He held the body up as a shield, then charged at another nearby guard. He ran right into him, knocking him to the ground, then rolled behind a partially standing wall. A guard began shooting wildly at the wall. TK pulled the pin from the grenade he had just stolen from the guards he had tackled a moment ago, then chucked it over the wall. A explosion sent a few bodies into the air. As soon as the explosion sounded, TK flipped over the wall and grabbed a guard, who had been momentarily suprised by the explosion, and put his knife to his neck. He pivoted around with his human shield, protecting himself from the three remaining guards. He stuck his knife slightly into the guards neck, and out of panic, he began wildly shooting his AK. He ending up taking out two of the guards. TK then stuck the knife into his wind pipe and pushed his body towards the last remaining guard. The guard caught the body, and was about to push it to the side and take aim at TK, when the body exploded, killing him in the process. TK held up the pin to a grenade.

Wormmon and Patamon were having a sniper duel in the rubbish of the destroyed building, Patamon expertly not giving Wormmon a chance to digivolve. But Wormmon had been given some most interesting modifications, and it wasn't an easy fight.

TK glanced at Ken, who was just now reaching for his gun again. Before could take aim, TK ran up to and shoved his elbow into Ken's gut. He fell backwards, the gun flying away. When it hit the ground, the jammed round jumped out.

"Testing a technique you've only heard about in the middle of battle isn't a wise thing." TK said, retrieving his pistol from the guard who had taken it and pointing it at Ken. "You were just asking to have your gun jam on you by ejected the first bullet by hand." He looked at the gun. "And I really don't think you're cut out for an automatic. The way you twist your elbow to absorb the recoil...I'd recommend a revolver." He put his gun to his side, shrugging. "Just a suggestion though."

"You son of a bitch!" He jumped up, drawing a knife, and dove to stab TK, but TK just grabbed his collar and flipped him over his shoulder.

"But you're pretty good, i'm not gonna lie."

"Pretty...good..." and then, he passed out. TK pondered the option of just shooting him now, but decided it would be dishonorable.

"Tom, I ran into a few snags. These GRU guys under the orders of Colonel Volgin came trying to take Joe. Ken's with them."

"GRU?"

"Some internal power struggle here on Buffet, according to Joe. Something between BAF and GRU, between Gagarin and Volgin...hold on." He looked up at Patamon. "Stop playing around and finish him!"

"Oh yeah, easier said than done." Patamon threw back sarcastically, ducking more shots. TK rolled his eyes, took aim with his pistol, and got Wormmon right inbetween the eyes. He fell from his perch on a roof, not yet dead, but hurt. Patamon moved in to finish.

"No." TK commanded, walking towards the rope bridge. "We'll leave them alive, for now. Back." He reported to Tai.

"Joe was protected by the BAF and hunted by GRU? This could be even hotter than Benson."

"I hate all of this...this whole thing...I have a bad feeling." He looked up ahead. "Joe ran off when I had to fight those guards, but he should be at the rope bridge. I'll get him."

Sure enough, Joe stood at the edge of the bridge, looking terrified. He turned his head to look at TK as he approached, Patamon close behind. "Those men were from the elite GRU unit. The best they have to offer...I'm finished!" He cried, looking back over the bridge.

"Calm down. We're almost to the recovery point, and then-"

A gigantic cannon sounded. TK and Joe turned their heads to a cliff in the distance. A gigantic tank stood on the edge, a cannon pointing up in the air, smoke blooming out of the tip. "Jesus christ, you built that?"

"Yes. It combines the power of the most dreadful digimon you could ever imagine...with the best technology has to offer. The Shagohod. "The Treading Behemoth." It's a tank, equipped with a array of attacks that you're probably familiar with from mega digimon. And, it can launch nuclear IRBMs."

TK nearly choked as he raised is binoculars to his eyes, looking up at the tank. "It can launch nukes from that kind of terrain?"

"Without support from friendly units." Joe added.

TK put his binoculars back and looked at Joe. "A tank able to attack with the power of a mega and launch nukes while operating solo. Is it finished?"

"No, this is just phase 1. There is still a phase 2 to come. The weapon's true form." He narrowed his eyes. "If it's completed, and the colonel gets his hands on it..." he swallowed "it will mean the end of this cold war. And the age of fear will truly begin."

TK looked at Joe disapprovingly. "I had no choice! I didn't want to die...I wanted to see my wife and children again..." he looked down at the ground, dejected. "Please, let's get to server! They can't complete it unless I'm there!"

"Let's go." They began to precariously cross the bridge, as it swayed back and forth in the wind. But then, somebody came into view, crossing the bridge from the other side. He...no wait, she...was carrying two large cases.

"Sora?"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Betrayal

Sora dropped one of the cases onto the bridge, causing it to swing wildly. TK and Joe grabbed the rope handholds to avoid falling. She dropped the other one after, causing the same effect. Joe nearly fell.

"Good work, Takeru. Now Joe comes with me."

"What the hell?" Then, a swarm of hornets descended on the pair. Takeru managed to stay calm, but Joe absolutely panicked. He tried to run back across, but then a pair of arms grabbed him. He screamed, and TK looked back at him. Yolei had Joe in her arms, and was pulling him up into a helicopter. "Dammit." TK turned back to Sora, who was looking up at the helicopter.

"Let us fight together again!" She called to the helicopter. TK looked back up in it. He could make out...Davis...and Cody too.

"God dammit!" TK yelled before turning back to Sora. Suddenly, a torrential downpour started.

"It's raining blood..." Sora trailed off. TK put his hand out, and it was indeed.

"Huh?"

Suddenly, as soon as it had started, it stopped. Another person was crossing the bridge from the side Sora had come from. He was a large...disfigured man...electricity seemed to be crackling around him. "What a joyful scene."

"Colonel Volgin." Sora addressed the new man.

"Welcome to my country and unit." Said Volgin to Sora.

"Sora?" TK's eyes began to widen in fear as he pointed his gun at the two. "What's going on?"

She slowly turned to face him. "I'm defecting to GRU. Kido and these-" she indicated the two cases beside her "-are gifts for my new hosts."

Volgin picked them both up. "Recoilless nuclear warheads...excellent."

"Sora...you can't be serious." His conversation earlier ran through his mind.

Volgin finally acknowledged TK. "Who is this? Are we taking him with us?"

"No. This one is too pure. Still a child. Still too loyal to Tai."

"What are you talking about!" He demanded, pointing the gun at Sora.

"Think you can pull the trigger?" Sora asked, slowly walking towards TK. She had a point. Suddenly, she lunged forward, grabbing the gun and pushing TK backwards. TK fell down on the bridge, and looked at his gun. The barrel had been detacted from the hold. Patamon dove in, but Biyomon came from seemingly nowhere and tackled him. They fell down the deep crevice under the bridge, fighting in midair as they fell.

TK jumped up, threw his half of his gun over the edge, and dove at Sora, punching. Sora sidestepped it, grabbed his arm, and broke it at the elbow. He fell to the ground, groaning and grabbing it.

Volgin began walking away. "He's seen my face." He reached the end of the bridge, heading back where he came from.

Sora nodded at his back. "I'm sorry, TK." She grabbed his arm, pulling up up, then rammed her elbow into his chest. She picked him up, flipping him neatly over the edge of the bridge. He went into a freefall. It wasn't as far as it had looked at first, but still quite far. He landed hard in the river below. It felt like landing in cement. He somehow survived, but the river's current was sweeping him down.

"Goodbye, Takeru." Davis said to himself from the helicopter.

"Are we done here?" Volgin called as the helicopter lowered down to pick them up. "On to the Shagohod!"

Sora turned to walk towards the helicopter, then back to the river where TK was flowing down. "My place is with them now. Drift away."

----------------------------------------

Some distance away, TK had washed up on a riverbank. He lay there, breathing heavily, severly wounded. How he was still alive, he didn't know. Slowly, Patamon fluttered from upriver down to him, also rather hurt. He went up to TK, nudging him.

"I'm sorry, but I lost." He moaned. TK just grunted. Then, his radio was beeping in his ear.

"Snake? Snake, can you hear me?"

"Yeah." He finally managed to say.

Mimi broke in. "I can't treat these wounds from here...you'll have to do it manually. Think you can handle it? I'm making the adjustments right now."

"Tom...Love defected. GRU." He grunted.

"We'll talk about that later, right now, fix yourself up."

"Alright, I need you to tap into the healing abilities of your suit. I need you to mentally walk yourself through treating all of your injuries. Your suit should read your mind, and do so, but you have to think about how you would treat them without the suit. Got it?"

"Uh...I think." He began doing it. Bandages...Styptic...Disinfectant...it was a very odd feeling, but it was indeed amazing technology.

"Err...Snake. Your arm, you'll have to..."

"Ugh." He reached over with his good arm and grabbed his arm. Bracing himself, he pulled it back into position, screaming as he did so. He fell back down on the ground, mentally taking care of the broken arm. Soon, he felt good enough to get up.

"Alright, I think i'm good. That's one hell of a suit." He looked up at the sun. It had only taken an hour. He wasn't perfectly healthy, but considering everything, this had to be a miracle.

"Just stay there, we can set the recovery balloon down right by there." Tai instructed.

"What happened to abandoning me if anything went wrong?"

"You've happened to end up in a location where we can get you without leaving our parameters too much."

A group of helicopters flew over the trees, airlifting the Shagohod away. TK watched as they flew away, frustrated.

----------------------------------------

Sora looked out from one of the helicopters, spotting TK. She held out her hand to him, and he returned the gesture. On another of the helicopters, Volgin, Ken and Kari sat. Volgin pulled out his new toys-a small missile and a bazooka.

"A success. I have both Kido and the Shagohod."

Ken looked over at Kari. "What do we do with her?"

Kari shrunk away into the corner.

"Who is she?" Volgin asked, approaching her.

"Kido's woman, apperantly." Ken answered. "I worked with her once, long ago. Her name's Kari. I'd recommend nipping this in the bud." He held up a pistol.

"No." Volgin went up to her. "I think i'll keep her."

Kari reached into her pocket casually. Volgin grabbed her hand and pulled it out, snatching what she was trying to get. A tube of lipstick...or so it seemed.

"A kiss of death?" He mused, looking it over. "Spunky. Yes, we'll keep her. We'll take her back to the base."

He walked back to the hatch of the helicopter, picking up his Bazooka and loaded it. "We no longer have any need for Kido's research facility." He held it up, aiming in the direction of the facility Joe worked at under the eye of the BAF. "I think i'll give this a test drive."

Ken walked up behind him. "But colonel...they may be our enemies...but they are still our countrymen!" He grabbed the bazooka, trying to pull it back in. "You're just going to nuke them?"

"It won't be me that pulled the trigger." He threw a glance at Sora in the other helicopter. "This little bonus will just cause more trouble." He aimed carefully, then pulled the trigger. The missile flew from the barrel, flying towards the facility at high speeds. Volgin gave it a salute before sitting back down inside the helicopter.

----------------------------------------

TK watched as the recovery balloon fluttered down next to them. "Alright, let's get out of here." He stood up painfully, heading towards where it looked like it was going to land. Patamon walked behind him.

Then, a brilliant light filled the canyon. TK covered his eyes, Patamon put his wings over his. When they peeked again, the light was fading, but a mushroom cloud was forming in the air several miles away. TK guessed it was in the area of the research facility Joe worked at. They were far enough away to not worry about the radius of destruction reaching them, but this marked the beginning of something much bigger...


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Operation Love

There wasn't much time after I returned to get comfortable and healthy. As soon as I was deemed ready to go, only one week after I got back, I was back on the plane again, listening to Tai, and Mimi, and some pilot buzzing away in my ear. The pilot was going over all the normal stuff. Location, altitude...the same stuff as he had a week before. He was to be dropped, more or less, the same area in which he had been dropped before.

"We can't do the HALO jump this time." Tai was reporting to TK. "So the capsule you're in right now is gonna be shot at the landing point. It should get you in undetected. Remember, this is your last chance. If we mess this one up, we're done."

And then, the capsule was shot like a rocket from the ship, falling to the ground. TK looked around his small chamber, watching the timers.

----------------------------------------

-Three days ago-

"Like the ICU?" Tai asked TK, looking down at him on his hospital bed. "You look alot better than yesterday."

"Tell those damn suits about visiting hours, I'm sick of questions. And so is Patamon here." He motioned to Patamon, lying next to him on his bed. "According to them, I'm a traitor and an accomplice to Sora's defection."

"Don't worry about it. Something's come up, we have a chance to clear our names."

"So this unit isn't dead yet?"

"Not quite." He pulled out a tape recording. "We were all looking at possible jailtime, until this came up." He set the recording on the bedside. "This is a phone conversation between President Williams and President Gagarin from a few days ago. You might wanna sit back." He hit play.

"President Williams?" The voice of Gagarin sounded from the recording.

"I hear you, Mr. Gagarin." Came the drawl of Williams.

"A few days ago, one of our weapon facilities was destroyed in a nuclear explosion. At about the same time, our radar picked up what appeared to be the signal from one of your aircraft. I have placed our armed forces on secondary alert, and depending on what happens now, may be forced to unleash all hell. My power over the east is not what it once was. If any of us are to survive this, I will need your cooperation."

"Yes. I should have contacted you myself. My apologies for that." He sighed and pause. "One of our soldiers defected to your country a week ago."

"Really? I did not know of this."

"The man who arranged the defection goes by the name of Colonel Volgin, head of GRU."

"Yevgeny Borisovitch Volgin? Go on."

"This soldier...was a living legend. One of the original digidestined. One of our greatest soldiers over these last fifteen years. Her name is Sora."

"Sora? The mother of your special forces?"

"Yes, that's the one. And she took two nuclear shells with her. A gift for her new hosts we believe." A pause. "I offer you my deepest condolences concerning the facility."

"I see. And you deny any involvement in this affair?"

"Yes, that's correct."

"Then what was one of your aircraft doing on our radar? It was in clear violation of our policies. Do you mean to say they were not acting under your orders."

"Yes."

"The destruction of that facility was the work of one soldier? You expect me to believe this? The army insists it is a ploy."

"I'll say it once again, our government had nothing to do with it."

Another pause. "I would like to believe you. But I don't have the...control over the military to hold them back just on your word. We need proof, I think. I give you one week to catch this Sora, and recover the 2nd nuclear device. And then, you must find a way to prove your innocence. Preferably with something...painful. Sora should be close to Volgin."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Call it a gentleman's agreement to ensure our continued relationship. If you fail, we will have an all out war none of us may survive. I will be ousted from power, and the military will seek revenge. I leave the dispoal of this situation entirely in your hands."

Tai hit the stop button. "So, to avoid a war that could destroy this world we have to prove we weren't involved in that explosion. Eliminating Sora, recovering the nuclear shell, and eliminating Volgin should take care of that. And while you're down there, getting rid of the Shagohod wouldn't go amiss."

"While I'm down there?" TK asked.

"Yes. The president decided you are the only one who can be realistically expected to pull this off. We leave in three days. Screw up, and we'll both be 6 feet under."

----------------------------------------

"Now, Snake, we have the blessing of the BAF to be here, so stealth is not as big a concern. But still, I'd be careful."

"Are they going to help us at all?"

"We've been put in touch with a couple of...insiders. Perhaps you're familiar with the defection of a few years ago?"

"No."

"Well, a few years ago, a couple of our people defected over to Gagarin. It was a pretty big deal. Apperantly, they've been training for a situation just like this. Their codenames are Adam and Eva. Adam has managed to infiltrate the ranks of GRU, so you're to meet him once you get down there. He'll provide you an escape route and do what he can to help you from his position within GRU."

The pod suddenly broke apart, and a parachute puffed out of TK's backpack. He slowly floated to the ground, landing in more or less the same area he had landed a week ago.

"Alright, Snake, you land okay?"

"Yeah."

"Now, you should go up ahead to that holding area where you found Joe a week ago. You should meet Adam by then, and he can walk you through gettting to Groznyj Grad."

"Groznyj Grad?"

"The facility where Joe, Volgin, Sora, and the Shagohod should be. Now, once more you two. Your objectives are to rescue Joe, destroy the Shagohod, eliminate The Boss, and eliminate Volgin."

TK grunted, pausing. "I feel like a hired killer."

"Yes, i'm sorry, but it was the demand of Gagarin. We're codenaming this operation "Operation Love", as a reference to Sora's trait, as she is the final objective."

"Got it, Major Tom."

"Hold on, now. I'm changing my codename. As it turns out...I chose the wrong one."

"What do you mean?"

"Have you ever seen the movie "The Great Escape"?"

"A long time ago, I don't really remember it."

"I see. Well, it's based off a true story. It takes place in a german prisoner of war camp in world war 2. It's the story of how a group of POW's escaped the camp by tunneling out. Now, the prisoners dug three different tunnels. Two of them were discovered by the Nazis before completion, and the prisoners use the third one to get out. The tunnels were codenamed Dick, Harry, and Tom."

"Ah, I see. You wanted your codename to be the name of the tunnel they escaped in, for good luck."

"Yes, but I recently watched it again to be sure...Tom was one of the tunnels the nazis discovered. They escaped through Harry."

"Okay, so what should I call you?"

"Hmm...let's just go with Zero this time."

"Mimi's here once again as well, you can call her Para-medic once again. And I believe you'll remember Izzy, he's joined our support group as well. He should be able to offer you some insight into the advanced technology and weapons you're going to come across."

"Hey." Izzy's familiar voice rang into his ear.

"Hey." The group just kept falling into place. "What should I call you?"

"Hmmm...Eclipse."

"Alright."

"Now, get to the abandoned area where you found Joe, and meet up with Adam. You can't miss him, nobody else wants to get close to this area because of the nuclear fallout."

TK grunted again.

"Don't worry, you should be fine as long as you keep to the mission parameters. Now, since this mission scenario is quite different from last time, you've been given a .45 this time. It's noisy. Be careful. You have permission to do a bit more this time around, but it's still a sneaking mission."

"Understood. Commencing Operation Love." TK began walking off into the jungle, Patamon close behind.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Eva

Together, they slowly went through the familiar forests, taking less caution this time. Tai was right, there weren't any sentries around. There would be some eventually, he assumed, but they had no reason to put them in this area he supposed.

They turned a corner on the path, and came across a birdramon. Slowly, TK went up to it, looking it over.

"A birdramon..." He said, mostly to himself.

"No, TK! The birdramon!" Patamon exclaimed, indicated the clearing ahead. TK turned to face it, and Sora stood there, covered by a black cloak, watching them.

"It looks like death wasn't ready for you yet."

"Sora?"

She charged ahead, right at him. TK pulled out his .45, aimed, but when faced with actually doing the deed...he hesitated for a second too long. Sora grabbed the pistol, and quickly disassembled it. She threw the pieces to the ground.

"Go home!"

TK got up and attempted to attack her, but she sidestepped it and flipped him to the ground.

"Go on! You can't possibly expect to finish your mission, you don't even have your weapon anymore!" She turned away, walking back to the clearing where she came from.

TK looked up at Patamon, who had been crushed to the ground before he could react by Birdramon. Cursing, he got to his feet and ran after Sora. Once again, Sora neatly knocked him to the ground.

"There's nothing here for you now." She motioned to Birdramon, who attacked the wreakage of TK's landing pod. It exploded in flames, releasing smoke everywhere.

"That should stir things up a bit." She looked back up ahead. "You better hurry. Guards will be here any minute now."

"Sora...why'd you defect?"

"I didn't. I'm loyal...to the end. To my purpose. What about you, Takeru? What's it going to be? Loyalty to me, or to the west? To Tai, or me? Your mission, or your beliefs? Your unit, or your personal feelings? Sooner or later, you have to chose. I have. I don't expect you to forgive me, but you can't beat me either." She grabbed onto Birdramon's leg. "If we meet again, I will kill you." She added menacingly, before taking flight.

TK slowly got back up, already hurting quite a bit. "Zero...love just ambushed me. She shot the drone to hell, it's up in flames."

"Dammit...that's not good, that should attract the attention of the sentries. How did she know you'd be there?"

"I dunno. I doubt there could be a leak...but she destroyed my gun."

"Snake...I know this isn't easy for you. To accept that she would just double cross us like this, but you've got to accept it. If you can't, you'll never beat her."

"I don't even know if I can beat her period. She's got me beat in technique, and I don't know how Patamon can stand up to Biyomon."

"Well, you've got to do it. She's your enemy now. Like it or not. Adam should supply you with a weapon, but you're bound to run into guards inbetween there and the facility. Hug the shadows, and don't be seen."

TK and Patamon, their injuries recovering automatically over time, crept forward. Sure enough, guards were walking towards the flames, investigating the source of the disturbance, AK's at the ready.

"Come on...lemme take em." Patamon kept begging. "It would be so easy..."

"Later. I want to keep a low profile for the moment."

It seemed to take hours. It was dark by the time they managed to get past the sentries and to the partially destroyed facility. A solitary guard was walking among the ruins. Silently, Patamon flew up behind him, grabbed his head with his wings, and broke his neck.

"That's a neat trick." TK whispered as he got up and began walking around the wreakage. "Now where is he..."

Suddenly, a motorcycle came tearing down the path from the north and screeched to a halt in front of TK. The headlights blinded him, he threw his arms up to shield himself.

"Sorry I'm late." He...wait, it was a she...called over the engine.

"Cut the engine." TK asked as she complied.

"You're the agent they sent?" She asked. She almost sounded like...but it was too much to hope.

"Yeah. You're Adam? I thought you'd be a man."

"Apperantly, Adam couldn't make it. I'm Eva."

TK nodded as she turned off the headlights. Suddenly, soldiers popped up out of everywhere from the forest surrounding the area, moving in on TK. Silently cursing the motorcycle for causing the disruption, TK dived behind some cover. The woman pulled out a large pistol...a Chinese Mauser 17, if TK could see correctly, and began shooting. She was quite good. She held it horizontally, using the recoil to create a sweep as she went from left to right. TK looked up over the bricks, and saw...a pair of claws swiping at the last one on the right. Maybe...he looked back at Eva.

"You alright?" She asked as she dismounted the motorcycle. He looked back over where all the guards had just fallen, and saw Gatomon emerge from behind a wall. Yes, it had to be...

He looked back at Eva, removing her helmet now. Yes, it certainly was!

"Kari!" TK cried, forgetting himself.

"Please, Eva. Security purposes." She reminded him. Nevertheless, she smiled when she realized who this agent was.

-------------------------------------------------------

TK looked around the room which he had taken Joe from a week ago. It was as it was last week, empty expect for the fireplace in the corner and desk in the corner. Now, however, there was a bed in the oppisite corner of the fireplace. He held a lit cigar inbetween his fingers as he considered Kari. She was setting some things down on the desk. She looked very inviting in her tight fitting motorcycle suit. TK looked away, trying to keep his thoughts away from such things. But then she dropped something, and bent down to pick it up. TK couldn't resist checking out-"

"Snake, stop it." Tai's voice rudely interjected his fantasy.

"Get out of my head!" He yelled quite suddenly. Kari quickly turned her head around to face him. TK looked away. Patamon and Gatomon sat in the 4th corner, giggling.

"No, I mean it."

He just growled at the wall. "What happened to Adam?" He tried to change the subject.

"Hell if I know. I just got the call from the BAF this morning that the plan and changed, and I was to meet you. I've never even met Adam to be honest. I just happened to defect over to the east at the same time. What's your codename?"

"...Snake."

"Alright then." She got up, now reaching into her backpack. TK considered her. He really had no idea what Kari had been up to these last fifteen years. He recalled reading something about her defecting to Buffet, but he was so dead inside at that point he hadn't really cared. Now, he was face to face with her...he did. He wanted to ask her alot of things...but couldn't decide where to start. He settled for another puff on his cigar.

He looked at the gun Kari had used. "Good gun." He grunted.

"Quite a punch. Nice to have on that bike."

"Using the muzzle jump to create that sweep...real nice." He looked over at Gatomon. "I see you've been keeping sharp."

"Have to with her always in trouble."

Kari handed him a gun. "I've got something different for you, though. You should be familiar with this."

TK looked it over, marveling at the craftmanship. ".45...feeding ramp polished...reinforced slide...tightened frame...original sight system..." he muttered to himself. He was quite sure he heard Kari giggle as he did so. "Real nice."

"This too." She threw a small computer chip at him.

"What's this?"

"A...let's call it a downloadable skin? Load it up into that suit of yours, and you can access it. This one turns your suit into a scientist outfit. You might need it in Groznyj Grad."

"Joe still alive?"

"Yes, he's being forced to work on the Shagohod. I'm pretending to be his woman on orders from the BAF. They suspected he might get captured, and told me if he did, I was to go along and try and do what I could from the inside."

"Joe's in on it to?"

"Of course."

"So, this lab...how do I get to it?"

"Well, first you head north through the jungle up ahead. Past the heliport, then a large crevice..." she leaned her head back, thinking, "a cave...keep going north...then a mangrove swamp...then a warehouse. Go through that, and there's the lab.

TK nodded. "Alright, are we done here?"

"Not at all." Kari walked up to TK, pushing him back on the bed. TK's eyes widened. "You should get some sleep. You'll never make it through the jungle at night." TK looked away, trying to knock some sense back into his head. "You've got a few hours before dawn." She got up and walked toward the door. "I've got to get back." She tapped her ear. "I'll keep in touch on the radio."

"That's...that's it?"

"I've given you information...those were my orders." She looked him over. "You look disappointed." She approached him slowly. "Alright, I'll do something special for you." She leaned in real close, and TK's eyes widened again in expectation. "I'll stand watch until dawn." She backed away from him, back towards the door once again. "Now go to sleep." She opened the door, backing out with Gatomon, then shutting it.

TK's face was flushed. Mimi's voice was giggling through the radio. "Snake...your testosterone levels..." Patamon was giggling too. TK looked down at his crotch and was greeted by a large bulge. Blushing madly, he lay down on the bed. Patamon was still laughing.

"Shut the _fuck _up." He whispered maliciously before drifting off to sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Ken fails: The sequel

TK slowly got up, not wanting to open his eyes. Sleep felt so good...he had the most wonderful dream...he slowly cracked open his eyes and was greeted by Kari, her back to his, just putting on her bra. He must have been still dreaming...but then he slowly came back to reality. A few moments of examining this sight to behold was broken by footsteps outside. He snapped his head around to the window, peering outside. Soldiers...they looked to be of Ken's unit...were approaching.

"We've got trouble." He hissed. Kari turned around, quickly grabbing her suit and jumping into it. "I see four of them, they look to be of Ken's unit."

"Alright, don't forget your gear." She pulled the bed out from the corner, grabbing a ring on the ground and pulling up. A trap door opened, revealing a small crawlspace. She jumped down into it. "You can handle it? I need to get to my bike and back to Groznyj Grad." She ducked down.

"Yeah, I'll take care of it."

Suddenly, she jumped up and gave him a small peck on the cheek. "Don't go dieing on me now." She said before beginning to crawl along the space. TK just looked down after her, confused for a second, then he shook his head.

"Patamon, get out there." He motioned to his partner out the window.

"TK's got a girlfriend..." Patamon recited in a singsong voice.

TK's eyeball twitched, and he shot the ground right in front of Patamon. Patamon jumped. "Alright, alright." Agitated, he flew out the window. He heard the sound of him digivolving outside, and took aim with his new gun at the door to the room.

After a moment, it was kicked open, and the unfortunate soldier who had thought the direct approach would be prudent was pegged right in the chest. Crouching, he moved outside. He heard a Hand of Fate vaporizing a few guards. This wouldn't be so hard, taking cover behind a pile of bricks, he shot a couple of guards Angemon flushed out. The last guard, clearly terrified, ducked behind a pile. TK casually walked up to it, put his gun barrel over the edge, and executed him. Angemon transformed back, and fell into step with TK as they headed north into the jungle.

"Wait, did Ka-Eva get out?" Patamon asked.

TK shrugged. Then, gunshots from the other side of the wreakage. They sprinted towards the sound, TK counting in his head. He heard six gunshots, then silence. He ran around a broken building, and came into view with Ken, holding Kari at gunpoint, and Stingmon, holding Gatomon down as well.

"I've been waiting for this..." Ken leered at TK. He was groping Kari's chest. "Huh...a female spy?" He looked over her shoulder, sniffing. "Perfume? This bitch is wearing perfume!" She tried to escape, but Ken easily held her back. "I don't think so." He looked back at TK. "You stay where you are!" He pointed the gun at him. "I've had enough of your judo."

"A revolver. I see you've taken my advice."

"Yes, no accidents this time."

"Hardly an accident. It only happened because you were showing off." He laughed. "As for that revolver...it's nice." He looked it over from a distance. "But the engravings on the barrel are completely useless, and probably a hinderance in a stealth situation. Maybe it'd be nice if you planned to auction it off, but in battle...besides, you're forgetting one more very basic thing." He spread his arms out casually, almost inviting Ken to shoot him. "You don't have what it takes to kill me."

Ken squinted his eyes at TK, almost disbelievingly. "You fool!" He pulled the hammer back and pulled the trigger, his sights on TK, but the sharp click of a hammer hitting a empty barrel was all that sounded. He repeated a few more times, but no bullet would come out.

Kari elbowed Ken, forcing him to release her, then roundhouse kicked him. Gatomon stuck her paws into the distracted Stingmon, knocking him back, and then started to beat him into the ground. Soon, he was a rather injured Wormmon again. Kari ran to her motorcycle, jumping on it and reving the engine. Ken tried to chase her, but Kari hit the gas, heading straight for Ken. She pulled back on the handlebars, going into a smooth backflip. Both the front and rear tires of the bike hit Ken squarely in the face, throwing him back hard to the ground.

TK approached him on the ground, his .45 pointed down at him. "Six shots, Ken. Your revolver only carries six shots, your old Makarov carried 8. You have to know your weapon better than that." Ken jumped to his feet, recovering the revolver from the ground. "I don't think that weapons really meant for shooting people, anyway."

Ken picked up Wormmon, frustrated. "This isn't over!" He turned around and began running north. Kari turned her Mauser on him, but TK stopped him.

"What do you think your doing?"

"He's still young and naive inside."

Kari just grunted frustratedly. "You'll regret stopping me. Thank god he didn't see my face. But i've got to get back before him!" She revved her bike again, tearing up the ground, heading to Groznyj Grad.

TK and Patamon headed down the path north. "Alright, she said...there'd be a helicopter pad through the jungle." TK recalled, mumbling to himself. They both ducked under some foilage, sneaking past guards whenever possible. TK's gun, as much as he loved it, was rather loud. He decided it would be wise to sneak as much as possible.

After awhile of crawling through, Patamon flew up into a tree. "Hey!" TK whispered. He descended back down with a fruit from a above tree.

"This operation is a marathon, not a sprint." Patamon explained. "We should probably eat something."

"We don't know if that's even edible." TK objected.

"It's a freaking pear."

"Shh!" He looked around, assuring himself no guards were closing in. "Alright." He started eating it. It was true, he was hungry, and the hunger was causing him to lose some focus and ability over these last couple of hours. Patamon flew away again, and came back with a dead bunny in it's grasp.

"Oh man, that's sick." TK hissed at Patamon. "A bunny, you kill a bunny and now you're gonna eat it. That's real nice. Let's go flip off some kittens and punch some babies while were at it."

Patamon, ignoring TK, took a gigantic bite out of the rabbit's hide in mock of TK's moral objection.

They proceeded slowly through the underbrush, finally coming into view of a helipad. At that moment, his radio buzzed to life, and he crouched behind a log.

"I made it." Kari's voice rang in his ear. "No one saw me. Volgin and Sora are here as well."

"Be careful. There's something about Sora...she can see through people. Oh yeah, call her 'love' from now on."

"We get along well, I find. We did know each other so long ago, of course...but I suppose us traitors have alot in common."

He looked over the log. He had time. And he wanted to get this off his chest. "Why would anyone want to defect? Betraying so many people, I just don't...well, get it."

"Are you talking about love?"

"...sort of. I mean, why did you?"

She sighed. "Alright. One day, I found I had lost faith in the things I had taken for granted."

What do you mean? What did you see."

"Well...it sounds odd. I saw the universe."

"And?"

"Well, not in the literal sense. The universe as the intelligence community sees it. People and countries are both changed by the enviroment and times."

"Love talked about this with me last week."

"Server and Buffet are very different continents. But it's just a different of position and perspective. When I came here, I found out that everything I had ever been told...was really just a biased lie."

"Then where's the truth?"

"Somewhere in the lies."

TK looked around the jungle. "I'll have to think about that. I'm at the helipad now, I better get going." He cut off the transmission, getting to his feet. He hadn't really found out what he wanted to...but it was a worthwhile point on her part. "Alright, time for some fireworks I think." The helipad was swarming with guards, it would be simpler to take a direct approach. A sneaking attempt didn't appear to have any particular merit or high chance of success. "But let's be quick."

Patamon flew around to the other side of the pad, then digivolved. His hand of fate drew some quick attention from everyone, as they are turned their weapons on him. TK popped up, peppering nearby guards with bullets. The double sided attack soon had every soldier mowed down. They moved past the pad, back into a jungle area, looking for a crevice. Guards closeby came up every now and then to investigate the noise, and TK dealt with them as they came. Finally, they found the crevice.

"Alright, cave should be coming up. Let's just crawl into this crack..." he slipped in.

"I'd like to crawl into Gatomon's crack." Patamon replied. TK suddenly wore a repulsed expression, looking at Patamon like he was an alien.

"I think I just threw up a little bit in my mouth." He spit at Patamon. "Not cool...just...not cool."

They slipped down into the cave area, continuing down the path. "How does that work anyway? We got a word for that shit. Beastiality."

"You know, I'm not sure." Patamon tilted his head back and forth. "It's never occured to me."

But the awkward conversation froze there. They came into a small clearing inbetween two separate caves, and Ken stood in their way.

"So Sora was right..." He pulled out two revolvers, spinning them around on his fingers. TK noted that these were solid jet black.

"Do you think if you told him to go jump off a bridge, he'd do it?" Patamon asked.

"Quiet!" He gave a whistle, and his unit popped out of everywhere, surrounding the couple. They took aim with their guns, and in the case of the digimon, their various attacks, at them. "I hate to disappoint Sora and her group...but you're mine now." He looked around at his men. "You may watch. I want a one on one fight with Takeru." He looked down at Wormmon. "As you please."

The pair of digimon evolved to their respective champion forms, and took to the skies, ready to begin a duel of their own. Ken holstered both his revolvers. "Twelve bullets, Takeru. I've got twelve bullets. No more mistakes." He moved behind a tree, taking cover. Takeru followed suit behind a large rock. "Only an honorable duel will do for the man who keeps...humiliating me. Now...fight!" He popped up, shooting at the rock where TK sat behind.

TK readyed his own gun, not sure what Ken was getting at, but wasn't about to object. He popped up, and the duel was on. TK moved to his right, trying to gain some ground...Ken climbed partway up a tree, catching TK offguard...to anyone who could respect it, the fight was quite a piece of art. Expertly, each of them moved around, taking careful, well-aimed shots, every now and then finding their mark. Every time TK landed a shot, a member of Ken's unit would raise his weapon and fire on TK. Ken would command him to stop.

Meanwhile, Stingmon and Angemon fought in midair, clashing over and over again, arm to staff. Angemon was superior, and after awhile it began to show. Stingmon was soon exposed to be quite overmatched. On the ground, a similar event occured. TK was just plain a better tactical sharpshooter than Ken, for all of Ken's trickshot abilities. After hitting him for a fourth time, Ken fell to the ground, having been shot now in both legs and twice in his right arm.

"Dammit." He groaned. TK took aim for a final shot, Ken's unit moved in to stop him, Stingmon retreated back to the north...but then, the air was filled with the buzzing of thousands of hornets. A horde of them descended on the unit, Ken, TK, Stingmon and Angemon.

"Shit, she found us!" Ken exclaimed, going prone on the ground and covering his head. Stingmon dove on top of Ken, protecting his master. Angemon did the same for TK. The unit was not so lucky, however, each and every last one was stung to death.

Stingmon flew away quickly with Ken. "You got lucky. We'll meet again!" Ken cried. Angemon picked up TK and they zoomed into the north cave. Angemon quickly set down TK, then reverted back to Patamon to conserve energy. They ran into the cave as the hornets stopped their pursuit.

"Why'd they stop?" TK panted over his shoulder, looking back at them. His question was answered quickly, he ran right off a cliff into a dead fall. Patamon fluttered after him, watching him plummet into a river below. Sputtering, he crawlstroked over to a nearby rock and pulled himself up.

After a moment of choking out water, he sat himself up on the wall. His radio rang into his ear. Mimi. "Snake, I just detected quite a bit of water in your lungs, and-"

"Shut up." He called back.

"But-"

"Shut up." He repeated, lighting a cigar, clearly agitated by everything happening to him. He groaned, then began working on the bullet lodged in his thigh.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Yolei

"Snake, I don't suppose I could convince you to not smoke during the mission." Tai asked rhetorically into TK's ear as he puffed away.

"Not a chance."

"Fine. You doing okay?"

"I've got a couple of bullets out. And my equipment is fine, had it all in waterproof bags." He rummaged through his backpack, making sure everything was fine. "But my gun was holstered..." He grabbed it, shaking water from it. He aimed it at the wall and took a practice shot. It seemed to be in working order. "It's fine."

"Good. Get moving soon."

"I will." He took another puff. He looked down, feeling something on his stomach. He pulled his shirt up and saw a leech on him. He stuck the tip of his cigar on the offending creature until it fell off.

"You alright snake?" Patamon asked, sitting next to him against the rock wall.

"I need to get laid." He replied through gritted teeth.

"Well don't look at me."

His radio buzzed back to life. "Snake?" It was Kari.

"Eva. I found the cave, I'm traveling down it now."

"Good. I forgot to tell you earlier, there's a clearing that separates two areas of the cave, and right after that the cave ends in a cliff that has a river at the bottom."

He grunted. "Yeah."

"But I doubt you'd be stupid enough to just blindly run into a dark tunnel and off the edge of a cliff, but I thought I'd just warn you as a precaution."

"...yeah."

"Anyway, I don't have long. We're all at the facility I mentioned at the moment, so be careful. Also, I'm under the impression that Yolei is waiting for you in the cave."

"Yolei?"

"Yes. Be careful, she's different now. Very different. She's...well, a freak. She's done odd things with herself. She's not normal. And when you find you, you have to be willing to kill her, because she definitely will kill you if she gets the chance. I gotta go." The radio died off.

He nodded. Then he chucked the remainder of his cigar into the river and got up. He blinked, and when his eyes opened up again, they were coated by a green screen. Night vision. He began walking down a narrow path, Patamon close behind.

"Patamon...if you have to fight Hawkmon or something..."

"Don't worry, I got it."

They slowly proceeded down the dark damp cave, until they couldn't go any further. They looked down into the river, which flowed until a rock formation. "Let's go." They both dived in and swum under the rocks, going with the current down the cave. After awhile, they came to a chamber within the cave. A trio of large rocks stood like platforms in the middle of the lake of water within it. A horde of hornets buzzed around one of them. TK and Patamon surfaced, peering at the rock in question. At the center sat...Yolei, whittling a piece of wood casually. She was completely covered by a large suit, and wore a mask over her face from which only her eyes and mouth were visible.

"Hello, Takeru." She said without looking at him. Her voice echoed around the cave. "You are indeed resiliant."

"What happened to you?" He dared to ask, crawling onto a rock.

"Much. I found that, once humans infested the digital world, simple old me wouldn't cut it. No. If I was to make it, I'd have to become...more. And I have. I've become one with these hornets you see. I love them, and they love me."

"Sounds sick."

"Together, we've become more powerful than you could ever possibly become." She finally glared at him. "We've sworn ourselves to Sora, to her cause. And if you wish to interfere, I will send you to a world of pain beyond your wildest dreams." She dared him with her eyes through the mask.

He pointed his .45 at her, shooting off a pair of rounds. Hornets buzzed into the path of them, taking the blows for their master. Smiling, the hornets around her buzzed and swarmed at them. TK dived into the water, followed by Patamon. Patamon digivolved underwater, then surfaced. Aquilamon met him as he emerged, however, and the two puntured a hole in the roof of the cave. They took to the air, battling fiercely.

TK surfaced. "Be careful! We don't know what he's capable of!" He yelled up before ducking back down to avoid the hornets. This wasn't going to be easy. He swam around underwater around the rock where Yolei was still sitting. The hornets spread out all over the chambers, circling, waiting for TK to emerge. He popped up, shooting a trio of bullets at Yolei before sinking back down. He had to be careful not to fire while underwater, he guessed that wouldn't be good for it. This game continued for awhile. TK would swim around underwater, daring to pop and shoot at Yolei every now and then. Usually, his bullets were taken by a horner, but every now and then he managed a hit. She was tough. She took his bullets with little reaction. Meanwhile, up ahead, Angemon dueled with Aquilamon. TK was right, Aquilamon was faster, and possessed some new attacks that weren't normal. Angemon, however, was slowly gaining the upper hand. He was flat out stronger than Aquilamon in the end.

After TK managed to land a 5th bullet into Yolei, she got up. Slowly, she reached for her mask and ripped it off. TK nearly swallowed alot of water at what he saw. Apperantly, she had been stung a ridiculous number of times by the hornets. Her face was no longer recognizable. It was a gigantic black...puffy...thing.

"You see what I have sacrificed to become what I have become?" She asked. The hornets suddenly swarmed to her, covering her entire body. TK popped up and took a few shots, but they merely met a few hornets, not effecting Yolei. "As long as these stay loyal to me, I can never fall." Every hornet suddenly swarmed to TK, and he ducked back down. The hornets formed what appeared to be the shape of a gun on Yolei's arm, and she took aim at TK below the water and shot. A bee shot down from the barrel, sting first, plunging into the water. TK managed to dodge it, but others came quickly after it. He swam around quickly, popping up behind her, unloading a full clip into her back. Finally, she froze. Slowly, she fell to her knees. She collapsed in a heap, the hornets buzzing around her.

"Oh...the pain." She moaned. Slowly, she melted away into nothingness. The hornets began to explode, one by one. TK ducked back underwater until the last one destructed. When he surfaced, Patamon was floating back down.

"Is it done?"

Patamon nodded solemnly. TK swam towards a gap in the cave wall. They emerged from the cave, and looked down a river that flowed north. Soldiers and digimon flew around in the air. Staying underwater as long as possible, he floated down the stream. He quickly came up and managed to remain undetected. His suit blended in well with the riverbed below. After awhile of swimming, he came up a little ways away from a warehouse. He pulled his binoculars, peering ahead at it. A guard was pushing Joe toward a door. He grabbed his backpack, pulled out his directional microphone, and took aim at the scene in front of it.

Joe was resisting the pushing. "Get your hands off me!" He cried. "I'm not going anywhere!" TK looked a little to the right, and saw Volgin and Kari standing in front of a door at the top of a small set of stairs.

"Really, how many times must I tell you?" He placed a hand on Kari. A electrical jolt traveled down his arm and onto her, shocking her and sending her tumbling down the stairs. "Each time you resist, your lover will suffer the consequences. Is that clear?"

"Kari!" Joe cried. For somebody clearly terrified out of his mind, he was doing a rather good acting job, thought TK. He looked back at Volgin, who had picked Kari up and was shocking her again. Must be some more of those DNA modifications.

"Damn you!" Joe grunted. He walked towards the warehouse door. But then, Ken stepped in his path.

"Hold it right there." He pulled out a revolver and a single bullet, loading it. "Let's just see how lucky you are." He spun the barrel of the revolver around, stopping it at a random point. He pulled out another two revolvers. He began to juggle the three. "One of these guns has a single round somewhere in the barrel. I'm going to pull the trigger six times." Joe's eyes widened in fear, and he fell to the ground, backing away. "Good luck."

Ken pulled the trigger of one of the guns, smoothly going back into his juggle...at random intervals, he repeated...again...four...five...Joe wet his pants. "Looks like your luck hasn't run out...yet." He threw a revolver high into the air, holstering the other two, and made to grab it to fire for the sixth and final time.

Suddenly, Sora came up from behind him and grabbed the revolver. She aimed it off into the river, firing. The round came bursting out, crashing into the riverbed.

"There's no such thing as luck on the battlefield." She said sternly. "We still need him." She pulled the revolver apart, handing it back to Ken. "Stay in line from now on. And stay away from Takeru. We'll take care of him." Ken took the pieces of his gun, clearly angry. He stomped off.

"Is he dead yet?" Volgin asked.

"...Yolei is dead." She replied solemnly.

"What!" He turned to the wall of the warehouse, and punched it several times. Each punch left a large, crackling dent. "Impossible...he really is one of them. We have to eliminate him before the final test, he's becoming a threat to this whole operation."

"Don't worry." She turned to face a large door in a nearby section of the warehouse. Davis emerged from it. "I'm leaving him to you, Davis."

He nodded silently, before suddenly disappearing into thin air. TK looked around, as if expecting him to pop up right behind him, but nothing happened. It began to rain, very hard, suddenly. TK remembered what happened on the bridge last week, and snapped his attention back to the warehouse.

"Kido isn't worth your love." Volgin was saying to Kari, still on the ground. "You can entertain me until the rain stops." He grabbed her hand and started pulling her towards the warehouse door. Now, Sora was the only one who stood there. She looked up into the sky, up into the rain.

"Matt? Is that you?" She said. At least, that's what it sounded like...TK looked at Patamon, who was also glancing at him. What was she talking about? The rain stopped all of a sudden, just like before...and then, Sora had walked away.

"Matt? Could she mean..."

"What happened to Matt anyway?"

TK shrugged. "Alright." They sat tight for a moment, until they felt Volgin and Sora must have gotten far enough away. Then, they swam the rest of the distance to the warehouse. "So, we gotta go through this warehouse, and we should be at the lab." TK repeated to himself. They approached the door to the warehouse cautiously.

"Patamon. Remember all those times back in the day, when I kept saying how much I wanted to kick Davis's ass?"

"Yeah."

TK just gave a naughty grin, nodded his head, and slowly walked into the warehouse.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Aleksandr Leonovitch Granin

Slowly, they creeped through the warehouse. Guards patrolled everywhere inside, TK constantly took cover behind boxes and walls. Slowly, he zigzagged across the large storage room. A guard got just a little too close, and he grabbed him, snapping his neck in a smooth motion. Finally, after what seemed like forever, they were on the other side of the room, slipping through the door at the end.

More jungle. But not for long. Soon, the forest cleared for a large labratory. Dogs and guards circled around and around it, apperantly previously warned of the intruder.

"Fuck this." He got up, aiming his gun. "Patamon, let's go." He jumped out of the forest, quickly cutting through guards and dogs left to right. Patamon made the transformation to Angemon. He flew over the electrical fence, whacking guards wherever they were. It didn't take long for the area to be clear.

"Beautiful." TK mumbled to himself as he vaulted the fence. Patamon settled back down on TK's shoulder, having devolved back. "I didn't say you could ride on me." He pushed him off.

"It doesn't even affect you, asshat."

Ignoring him, he walked up to the side of the lab. A crawlspace. He ducked down, descending into it. "Alright, Joe should be around here somewhere."

"Oh sure, just ignore me." Patamon whined, flying in after him. They came out in a small grass area. Probably a smoke station judging by the smell. He whipped out his pistol, and entered the lab.

His suit morphed into a scientist's lab coat. It looked very convincing. Though he suspected he wouldn't pass close inspection. Hoping his backpack didn't look to suspicious, he started to casually walk down the hallways. Quickly, Patamon popped open the back of the pack and shut himself inside.

"You smell way too bad to pass for scientist." Patamon commented.

"I know, keep your voice down! As long as I don't get too close to anybody..." he kept moving down the hallways. He saw labs and computer rooms on his way. He explored around, finding a jail, a dining room, and several storage rooms. Finally, he headed down a set of stairs and, through a room full of computers, he found something.

Unfortunately, that something wasn't Joe. He entered the office of a old looking man, looking quite depressed, drinking out of a flask.

"If you're looking for Kido, he's not here anymore." He said casually, not looking at TK. "That's a terrible disguise you've got on there. You actually got past the guards in that?" He scoffed.

TK pointed his gun at the man. "Put that thing away!" He finally looked at him. "So you're the intruder everyone's talking about. Typical. No manners!" He turned back away. TK lowered his weapon.

"And you are?"

"You don't know who I am?" He laughed. "Sad. Alright then." He got up slowly. "I am Aleksandr Leonovitch Granin. The foremost weapons scientist in the east, and head of this lab." He pointed down at the ground. "Since the wars of five years ago, I have created countless weapons in the service of this great continent. I am considered a true "Hero of Socialism" here. It was I who managed to come up with the technology to sap a Digital Monster's energy and convert it into weapons for humans to use." He took another swig.

"You're crocked, aren't you?"

"I am drowning my sorrow, if you don't mind. Because of him, it's all I can do."

"Who?"

"Kido!" He sat back down, reaching into a drawer. "My authority has been stripped, and my research has come to nothing, all thanks to him." He pulled out a leaf of papers and handed them to TK. "Kido's Shagohod pales in comparison to what I have designed here. In large part, it's a similar idea. But one major different. It's bipedal."

TK nearly swallowed his tongue. "Bipedal?"

"Yes. Kido's...tank, nice as it may be, still has the limitations of tank. My design can go anywhere, can move like a human being. This is the missing link between artillery and infantry."

TK's first thought was to shoot this man and make sure this weapon could never come to be. But he was drunk now, maybe not totally aware of what he was saying. Surely this wasn't really...possible.

"But, thanks to Kido, I'll never be able to actually build it. But I won't be foiled so easily! I'm sending these designs to my friend, in the west. If these fools are stupid enough to prevent me from making it, I shall make them taste what it feels like to be on the other side of it. When they are being wiped out by my creation, only then will they understand the mistake they have made."

"About Kido..."

"A tank doesn't need more weapons! It needs something else." He got back up, pointing downwards again. "Look at these."

TK looked down, not sure what to say. "Nice shoes."

"No! Legs! A tank needs legs! Don't you agree? That's the true evolution in weaponry. But...they didn't find it realistic, and Kido's Shagohod was chosen over it."

"Where is he?" TK asked, starting to get annoyed.

"My project has been terminated, and the digital legacy has been handed over to him." He said, ignoring him.

TK was suddenly interested. "Legacy? What?"

"You've never heard of it." He started pacing around. "A long time ago, perhaps 50 or 60 years, a group discovered the digital world. After discovering what it was, they began to use it to suit there...needs. They stored hundreds of millions of dollars here over time, until eventually they were forced out. They could never get back in, or get anyone to believe in this world. Volgin's father was in charge of the money laundering they took part in, and ended up with it. Volgin inherited it illegally. We never need to worry about the military budget because of his deep pockets. Once, the funding for my work came out of it. But now, everything Volgin has, money and men, have been diverted to the Shagohod. Kido's making final preparations for the final test in the fortress of Groznyj Grad, and all the while here I am, drinking myself into a stupor and playing host to a enemy spy."

TK was interested in this legacy, but now was not the time. "So Kido's there?"

"Yes, along with the Shagohod." TK turned around quickly, walking back towards the door. "Wait! You're not...going to Groznyj Grad, are you? It's impenetrable fortress! You'll be killed!"

"I'll take my chances." He opened the door, intending to walk out.

"Wait, you fool! I want to help you." He jumped up, staggering to the door.

"Why?" TK asked, turning around slowly and shutting the door.

"To thank you for your compliment."

"What?"

"My shoes." He smiled, pointing down at him. "And besides, if you can get that idiot out of there and destroy the Shagohod, I'll be a happy man. There's an underground tunnel that goes around the perimeter of the base. You can enter it from there. You remember the locked door in the warehouse on the way here?"

TK nodded, recalling it in his mind. "Take this keycard. It will open the door. Beyond the door, is a vast jungle. Past these jungles are mountains. The entrance to the tunnels will be there, in the mountains."

"Why are you really helping me?"

"Because I love this country. I love Buffet. I wish to remain a hero of it, not to be swept away into a corner." He looked up at a clock. "You must hurry. The final test is not far off." TK headed back to the door. "I will stay and nurse my troubles a little longer."

TK close the door behind him. "Weird guy..." He mumbled as he headed back to the crawlspace. He wound his way up the stairs, through hallways, avoiding others when possible and trying to keep moving past them when he had to. He managed fine, and soon was back outside the lab. Patamon jumped out, stretching.

"How about that Granin guy? Just...giving me the keycard." TK mused.

"I got six words for you. Cocaine's a hell of a drug." Patamon quipped, flying back into the forest towards the warehouse.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Fear

They slowly walked through the small jungle area, when suddenly, a arrow bolt struck TK in the back of the leg. Grunting, he pulled out his pistol and rolled behind a tree for cover. He pulled the arrow out painfully. He could feel the poison that was coated on the tip sinking in. His suit fought the negative effects.

"Hello, Takeru." Came a familiar voice. TK turned his head around the tree, and then pulled it back just in time to dodge another arrow, to catch a glimpse of Davis sitting up in a tree with a crossbow. "I've changed alot since we last met." He pointed at the arrow. "I think you'll find the poison on that tip...quite unpleasant. It guarauntees a most exquisitely painful death."

"Not today." He called back.

"Oh, I'm afraid Mimi won't be able to save you for much longer. Not even her technology can fight off such a strong poison for long." He jumped to the ground. "Are you ever...afraid, Takeru?"

"There's no time for fear in what I do."

"Do you not fear...the most...terrible death I am about to deliver to you? I assure you, when my poison has it's way with you, you will wish you could have had Yolei's luck!"

Then, he disappeared. A moment later, he reappeared, in front of TK about 15 feet away. Roaring with rage, he began to unload his crossbow at him. TK dived out of the way. Davis kept teleporting around the jungle, shooting at TK from all angles.

"Am I here? Or am I here? Maybe i'm...here!" He taunted, always on the move. Patamon evolved to to Angemon, but once again, Davis met this with his own. Exveemon tackled Angemon into some bushes, where they began to fight.

TK blinked, putting infared lenses over his eyeballs. He kept moving, watching Davis go from tree to tree. After about five minutes, he had figured out Davis's pattern through the trees he kept repeating. He ran up to a tree and, just as Davis was about to teleport onto one of it's branches, TK ripped it from the trunk. Davis teleported onto nothing and started to fall. He was about to teleport again, but TK smashed his skull with the branch. Davis fell to the ground, groaning, grabbing his head.

"Davis. Do you like apples?" TK asked suddenly, pulling out his .45 and aiming it at Davis's head.

Davis was taken off guard by this question. "Maybe." He groaned.

"Well, Kari kissed me this morning. How do you like them apples?" He said smugly. He gave this a half a second to sink in, then fired. Davis fell back, dead.

TK looked over at the fight of Exveemon and Angemon, then fired a single shot at Exveemon. This distracted him just long enough for Angemon to impale him with his staff. The deed was done. Not wanting to think about this for too long, they moved right on, back towards the warehouse.

"Do you think all this killing will catch up to us lately?" Patamon asked, reverting back.

"Only if we let it." TK said simply.

Little did they know who was watching from a high above tree, laughing at TK's ignorance. "Sad...so very...sad."

------------------------------------------

The keycard opened the locked door, and they were greeted by a large jungle. Suddenly, his radio came to life. Kari. "Snake, you doing okay?"

TK ducked behind a tree, looking up ahead at the jungle. "I'm fine, where are you?"

"Groznyj Grad. Joe's here too."

"He's alright."

"Yes, he's finishing up on the Shagohod. But you should hurry, once he's done, they'll have no qualms about killing him."

"Alright. Don't let him out of your sight."

"I know. Have you figured out how your going to get here?"

"I met a weapons scientist in the labs. Granin. He told me to go to the mountains in the north and find a underground tunnel."

"Granin told you?"

"And gave me a key to help me get there."

"Why?"

"...because he was drunk, I guess."

"You've got to be kidding me. Anyway, look. The underground tunnel that Granin spoke of is sealed. You need a key."

"Granin gave me a key for the warehouse..."

"That one won't work. Alright, meet me at the ruins at the top of the mountain. I'll meet you there and give you the key."

"Are you sure you'll be able to manage that?"

"I'll figure something out. Oh, Snake. I've heard Cody's waiting for you in the jungle. He's...changed too. A different person. You can't think about killing him, you'll just have to...do it. Because he will."

"What's he packing?"

"A sniper. He's a master of sniping. Trust me, he doesn't even use a spotter. And that's not all, the entire forest is on his side. The moment you step into that jungle, he'll know where you are, and as long as you're in there, he'll know exactly where you are at all times. And Patamon, Armadillomon isn't the same either. It won't be an easy fight, you can't hold back."

"Got it." And he cautiously crept forward. In walked inbetween two trees and tripped on a rope. A log covered in spikes swung down from above and hit him full in the face. "Shit!" He fell back, grabbing his face in pain.

His radio came back. "Oh yeah, watch out for traps in the jungle. I'm sure you're smart enough to see them for yourself, but thought i'd be sure."

"Yeah." He groaned, feeling his face slowly heal. After a moment, he got up and moved forward. They walked on a path for some time. And then, a shot from a very powerful weapon sounded off. It hit TK in the hand, he grabbed it, screaming. "Son of a bitch!" He rolled over behind a rock.

"Takeru." He could hear Cody's voice. It was quiet, but he had no trouble hearing it somehow. "Takeru. Do you hear me? I'd like to thank you for coming here. I feared that I'd never meet...a worthwhile foe. My sniping skills are unrivaled, as you will soon see. I am Cody, and I am here to send you to your ultimate fate."

TK looked at his hand, a bloody hole in the middle, slowly heal. "Patamon, go. I want Ultimate this time!"

"Right!" He jumped up into TK's backpack and pulled out a Calorie mate. Ripping the package open with his mouth, he began to eat the contents.

"Eat faster, I hear something coming!" Patamon polished up, and quickly evolved to his ultimate form, Magnaangemon. Cody met this with one of his own. Shakkoumon emerged from the ground, tearing the terrain where he popped up.

"But...but I thought..." Magnaangemon began.

"That's right. Armadillomon no longer needs your pathetic help to reach that form. Much like we no longer need your help, Takeru." A gunshot chipped the rock TK was hiding behind. "But I am not without honor." TK looked down at the ground in front of him, and a sniper rifle had appeared out of nowhere. "Now, we fight."

TK dashed from his hiding place ahead into the jungle. Gunshots wizzed around his head as he made his path to his planned hiding spot, behind a tree, erratic to throw Cody off. He ducked behind the tree as bullets took chunks of bark off of it.

He focused hard, trying to judge where Cody was by the sound of the rounds firing off. Quickly, he pivoted, took aim in the general direction he had judged, but saw nothing. He took a round in the thigh before pivoting back. He fell to the ground, grabbing at it, prying the bullet out.

"It's no good, he's blended in too well." He shouted to nobody. Then, he had an idea. He blinked, sending the infared shields over his eyes. After taking a moment to heal, he pivoted and took aim at the same spot. He saw the heat signiture coming from Cody's body, and fired. He turned back quickly, not sure if he had hit, but thought he might have. When he dared to look back, he saw...what appeared to be Cody melting into the ground.

He glanced over at the digimon fight, which was taking up a large portion of the jungle. Viciously, they attacked each other over and over again. He was about to go help, when a bullet just missed over his head. He ducked back down. Cody was firing on him from a completely different position.

"You can't get rid of me that easily." He heard Cody say. He kept a steady stream on the tree, pinning him down. TK counted bullet until he knew Cody would have to reload, then pivoted and fired twice quickly. He was sure both of them connected before he turned back. He was getting somewhere.

Cody melted into the forest again. This time, TK plunged deeper into the jungle. He had to walk some distance to find Cody. He was in a completely different area of the jungle. This was going to be frustrating.

"You can't win, Takeru. This forest is mine. I know everything there is to know about it." Cody said without emotion as he fired on TK as he dove for cover. "You've done well, but you can't honestly expect to win."

The game continued for some time. For almost an hour, TK ran around the jungle, finding Cody's new sniping point, and trying to get some shots in until he left. After two hours, TK was almost all out of energy and the will to fight. Magnaangemon had since beaten Shakkoumon, but was quickly forced to de-digivolve due to a lack of energy. He had taken up hiding as he had no realistic way to fight Cody in this sniper duel.

"How many times am I going to have to shoot you?" TK yelled, frustrated. As if to answer him, TK pivoted, got a shot off, and noticed Cody release his rifle. "Huh..." He dropped the rifle and pulled out his .45, slowly approaching him.

"I see it is time for me to...return to the forest." He heard Cody saying. "Sora would have been proud of you. I have no regrets." Then, he just laid there for a moment. Slowly, he melted back into the earth, TK knew for the last time. He saw his life energy disappate into the ground around him.

"Alright Patamon, let's get going." They continued ahead to the mountain. "We've got some climbing to do."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: A long way to the top

Immediately, the pair had walked down a short manmade tunnel and came to a ladder. TK's eyes, as good as they were, couldn't see the top. Groaning, he grabbed onto it and started his ascent. Patamon just starting flying up, to the chagrin of TK.

"Dillhole." He muttered as he kept going up, hand by hand, rung by rung. Soon, he found himself losing focus, and just going up seemingly automatically, his mind swimming with things he put on the backburner during the intense fighting of these last few hours. As far as he knew, he had dealt with all the digidestined who had jumped the fence with Sora. But, he had to be ready for anything. Then his thoughts jumped to Kari. Maybe when all of this was over...but no, they were on different sides. Nothing against her, but it couldn't work. Was Izzy ever actually going to do anything? Were Kari's breast re-no, stop thinking about that. Was Matt involved in this somehow? Was Kari still a screamer-god dammit to hell. And then, he grabbed the ledge. He had reached the top. No more time for thinking. Patamon had been sitting there for apperantly some time.

"Alright. He peered through the window of the small chamber the top of the ladder. "We've got a ways to go...and people to cut through on the way." He looked down at Patamon. "This terrain isn't exactly ideal for stealth. We should probably just blow through." He pulled a long stick out of his backpack and stuck it into his mouth. He poked the back of it, forcing himself to throw up. Patamon watched, visibly repulsed, as TK recovered parts of what appeared to be a gun from his puke. He assembled it quickly. He grinned at Patamon evilly.

"Snake...what the hell is that?" Tai buzzed into his ear.

"A _real_ gun."

"Shove that thing back down your throat immediately, or i'll-"

"Do what? Go to your room and cry?"

Tai grunted. "I'm going to kick your ass when you get back."

TK kicked the door to the shed down, aiming his new weapon in the direction of a group of soldiers in the distance. The rapid _brapbrapbrap_ of an automatic weapon filled the air, and upon contact with the ground, wall or a guard, the bullets exploded in a burst of fire. TK didn't let up on the trigger, peppering the entire path ahead of them with the explosions.

"Snake, you're going to send that mountain down on top of you!" Tai was yelling.

"What kind of a gun is that?" Mimi asked, quite stunned at the power it packed.

Tai looked at Izzy, his face contorting his rage. "I believe...Izzy here...recently developed it."

Izzy just shrugged and looked the other way quickly.

Soon, TK was satisfied with his path of destruction. Dozens of guards had fallen under the powerful explosions the gun generated, their corpses litering the ground around them. He placed the gun back in his backpack.

"Snake, this isn't a video game."

"I know. But if I go too long without blowing something up, I get that feeling you get when you haven't jacked off in two weeks, it's like-"

"Okay, okay! Shut up. Too much information." He groaned. "Just...just keep moving."

They walked down the pathway towards a series of buildings in the distance.

"Okay, how about... 'fancy a shag, Gatomon?'" Patamon asked.

"No, that sucks. And stop thinking about that." They looked around carefully in the several small chambers that littered the mountainside. Suddenly, a helicopter came up from below, a gun turret tracking TK as he moved from one little room to the other. He threw himself down behind a wall as the turret began blaring. Hot lead spewed into the room's outer wall that TK had taken cover behind. He was sure the wall would give out eventually, but there was no way that.

The turret's screaming whine of fire was suddenly accompanied by a second one. TK dared a peek over his cover, and saw Patamon trying to control a gun turret that had been positioned on the edge of the path. He was pulling as hard as he could, aiming it at the helicopter while pressing down on the trigger at the same time. He didn't know how he managed it, but somehow, he managed to get it off. The helicopter couldn't react in time, and soon it was smouldering wreakage falling down the mountainside.

"I suppose Gatomon might have some interest in you after that show." TK quipped, slowly coming out of his cover.

"You think?" He said brightly.

He just laughed and started walking back up the path. They weren't far now.

"Alright, Kari said to meet us at the ruins...I see them I think." He was saying to himself. "Christ it's hot up here. I actually miss the jungle."

"Are you sure it's not just _you_ getting hot?" Patamon asked.

TK's eyeballs twitched again, and his fingers curled into fists. In the blink of an eye, he reached for his knife at his side and flung it at Patamon. It whizzed right over his head, shaving a bit of hair off, and clanged onto the rock ground.

"Wow, still sharp! Perfect aim!" Patamon commented.

"What are you talking about? I missed." TK growled through gritted teeth as he went to pick it up. Patamon just shrugged and continued ahead, keeping a distance from TK this time.

He pushed the door open to the ruins when they reached it, TK running up behind him. The door swung to the side to reveal a half naked Kari changing. She turned around quickly.

"That was fast." She commented. She sat down on a chair in the corner, letting her suit fall to the floor. TK looked at the wall quickly.

"Err...youlooklikeyoucouldusesomerest." He said quickly.

"I'll be alright. But playing these two roles hasn't left me time for sleep." She had lost complete interest in getting back in her suit, apperantly. Finally, TK took a seat and turned his gaze to her. Her body was covered in what appeared to be fresh cuts. He winced.

"Where'd those come from?"

"Volgin." She said, gazing out the back window, which looked down on Groznyj Grad. "This is his hobby. He's a sadist. He gets pleasure out of making people suffer." TK got up closer to her, looking her back over. "Does it really look that...strange to you?"

"Ah no. I'm the same, scars all over."

"Really?" She turned to face him. "Can I see?"

TK nearly choked. He probably waited a little too long to answer. "N-No." He turned his gaze back to her stomach, fully aware the bulge was returning. "How'd you get that?" He pointed out a older looking scar on her abdomen.

"A few years ago, after defecting."

"You're lying. That scar's alot older than that."

"You really want to know?" She bent down, teasing him with her cleavage. "Well, too bad." She backed up, winking and shaking her finger. TK looked at the wall, trying to keep himself under control. "I've got to have some secrets, you know. But enough about that. Phase 2 is about to start, and Gagarin has some men flying in trying to spoil the party. If we don't hurry, security will be even tougher." She handed him a keycard. "There was a door in the side of the mountain a little way's back. This key unlocks it. Once you're in, follow the tunnel. And take these to." She handed him a pair of instant noodle packages.

"Thanks." He got up, trying to leave as soon as possible.

"Good to eat real food once in awhile." She went up behind him, grabbing him. He froze. "I'll bet if I kissed you...you'd taste like a wild animal."

His eyeball twitched, and he pulled away quickly. "Where's Joe exactly?'"

"The weapons lab, the heart of the fortress. Now, there are three sections to it. The east wing houses research, the main wing houses the assembly of the weapons, the Shagohod's there, and the west wing, where Joe is right now. You'll have to enter the east wing, and get to the main wing from there, then go up to the second floor and cross a bridge over to the west wing."

"Got it." He turned, trying to get out of here. Why the hell was it so hot in here...

"Hold on. The east wing's security is too good for you to sneak or blast your way in." She went back up in front of him, holding a rubber mask. "You need colonel class to get in." She held up a small photo of Volgin with another man. "This man is Ivan Raidenovitch Raikov. Find him, kill or disable him, steal his clothes, hide him, and put this mask on. You should be able to pass for him as long as you aren't closely inspected."

"Okay." Then he remembered he had to ask her something, and thought to get it over with now. "Once I've taken care of everything, how do we get out?"

"There's a lake 30 miles to the north. I've hidden a special plane there. We'll use it."

There was a pause, during which TK nodded and headed for the door. He had the handle in his hand, when Kari started talking again. "Wait."

He groaned. "Yeah?"

"Sora..." she looked at the ground. "do you think you love her?"

"No." He looked back at her. "Nothing like that. It's deeper than that, what we have together. It's not love."

"Do you hate her?"

"Does it have to be one or the other?"

"Between a man and a woman? Sure."

"For so many years, we worked together, living and dying together. Following the will of the leader wherever it took us. While others abandoned and betrayed us-" he glanced at Kari at these words "she stayed. You couldn't understand."

"And now, you think you can kill her?"

TK couldn't respond. He looked hard at the wall.

"TK." TK noted the use of his real name, not his code name. Curious. "Is there anyone you like? Someone special?"

He grunted. "I haven't been interested in other people's lives in the last fifteen years."

"You sound interested in Sora."

"It was different." He insisted.

"Really?" She swung back into his range of view. "What do you think of me?"

"I think I should ask you the same thing." He replied as she slowly went up to him.

"Me? I can...fall in love...if it's part of the mission. Even with you..." She kissed him across the face several times, but TK just stared off out the window. "TK...are you alright?"

He pushed past her and ran outside. Behind the ruins, a platform of rock was laid out. A sheer drop down to Groznyj Grad below. A crashing noise was coming from the fortress. Kari ran out, suiting up, now hearing the noise as well.

"I gotta go." She jumped on her bike. "Good luck!" Gatomon jumped on her back and they sped off down the cliff. TK winced as the bike jolted on contact with the ground. She was a good rider.

"How'd you do?" TK dared to ask.

"I totally talked to her. I'll bet this is what sex feels like."

He looked down at his partner, shook his head, and looked back down onto the fortress of Groznyj Grad.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Willis

"Are you retarded or something? She wanted you..._bad._" Patamon insisted.

"Shut up." He growled, pulling out his binoculars and directional microphone.

"Let's get going." Patamon turned around. "I remember seeing the door earlier."

"No...I wanna see this real quick." He pointed the binoculars and microphone down on Groznyj Grad. He focused in on Volgin in the middle of the base. He was punching a steel barrel around, each punch sending electrical jolts into it. It was flying around wildly, Volgin chasing it wherever it flew. He saw what appeared to be blood leak from the barrel. Finally, Volgin gave the barrel one final punch into a pile of several other barrels, and the top popped open. The charred body of Granin popped out. TK felt bad for a second, but then he couldn't but think he was relieved that it was likely his idea of a Bipedal tank would die with him.

Ken walked up from behind a shed to Volgin. "Did he talk?"

"No. He died before I could get anything."

"So he wasn't the spy?"

Volgin went back up to his body and pulled the sole off of his shoe. He then pulled out a small electronic device imbedded in the shoe. "A transmitter. Planted to keep...someone informed of his location." He jolted the device with his electrical shock, destroying it

"So he was the spy then?"

"Perhaps. Maybe he was being used by someone else."

"Perhaps?" Ken walked up closer to Volgin, upset. "This man was our comrade!"

"Comrade or not, he's of no use to us now."

Ken looked down at Granin's body. "...I don't approve of your methods."

"I don't need it. I'm in command."

"...that nuclear shell..."

"Still sore about that? You gonna report it to the authorities or something? This is war. We must root out spies wherever they hide. Kill or be killed. Your feelings are a menace to the unity of our organization. Someone is guiding the enemy's hand. A single man can only accomplish so much. Make no mistake, there is a spy among us."

Ken looked down at the ground. "But suspecting our own comrade..."

Volgin looked off at one of the warehouses. "C3 explosives have been stolen."

"Takeru?"

"No, he could not have reached this fortress yet."

"I'd be careful about suspecting your own men." Sora began as she walked up to the pair. Kari wasn't far behind. She had taken up her 2nd role quite well. She pulled off looking confused and scared quite well.

"Where have you been?"

Sora threw a crossbow and sniper rifle on the ground in front of Volgin. "Davis and Cody have fallen." She said solemnly. Ken picked up the crossbow.

Volgin turned to a steel barrel next to him and punched it, denting it deep. "Damn it! How can they be beaten so easily...by someone like him! This leaves only Willis!" TK's ears perked up at this. So there would be one more. The american he knew only vaguely.

Ken nodded. "He's good..."

"Fallen for him?" Volgin asked maliciously. Ken took a step back, struggling to find something to say.

"Don't worry. He'll be taken care of." Sora reassured Volgin.

"What does he want? It must be more than just Joe."

"Server wants to destroy the Shagohod and get it's hands on the legacy...your legacy..."

Volgin looked suddenly distressed. "The legacy! But...no...that's impossible..." He punched the barrel again in frustration.

"And they're here to kill me as well. Colonel, he's coming. Tighten the security. I'm going to get the second nuclear shell." She walked off. Volgin went off in the other direction. Ken was about to walk off as well when he froze. He looked back at Kari, sniffing, considering her...he walked up to her, pacing around her.

"Mm? Perfume?" TK's heart froze. Ken pointed the crossbow at Kari. She glanced away quickly, squinting her eyes at what she assumed what was coming. "Nice boots." Ken finally said. TK looked down at them. They were the motorcycle boots. Covering in dirt from the riding. "Make sure you polish them properly." He then turned around and walked away, leaving Kari breathing a sigh of relief. TK put his equipment away.

"Let's get out of here." They headed back through the ruins and onto the path they had traversed before. The path was still clear, and soon they were at the door in the side of the mountain. The keycard opened the door and a long flight of stairs greeted them on the other side.

"Willis...he's here too then?" Patamon asked. "And terriermon I suppose."

"Yeah. This should be easier to do than the others. I never knew Willis well."

"Does that really make it easier?"

"...yes." They proceeded down a concrete path until they came to a railing. Jumping over it, they landed in a room that had concrete pillars everywhere, turning it into a obstacle course or maze of sorts. "He's here. I can feel it."

"I can't fight in here!" Patamon exclaimed.

"Keep it small." He heard the clanking of footsteps from the other side of the room. After a precarious moment, Willis appeared, weaving through the maze of pillars.

"Hello, Takeru."

"Willis. Are you a freak to? Have you given up your identity for some crazy abilities you foolishly consider power?"

"You could never understand. Perhaps, when you are dead, you will understand things must be sacrificed if you want to survive. This is a new world. To get to where we want to be, we must become...greater. I have. Terriermon too." He suddenly took off from the ground, hovering just a few feet above, flying around. "Have you seen this world from above? From space? I have. It's a beautiful thing...for those of you who have the ability to respect such a thing. I suppose I don't. I have a dream...to set it all ablaze!" He began firing off bursts of fire down the pathways created by the pillars. "If I can not enjoy it, nobody well."

"So you're crazy too. Wonderful."

"And i'll begin with you! You will taste the wrath of my flames. And you, Patamon, you can play with Terriermon. He's changed as well, I think you'll find for the better. Though perhaps not for you." And he flew away quickly, taking cover behind the pillars.

TK headed off through the maze of pillars, looking for Willis, while Patamon headed the oppisite direction, looking for Terriermon. There was no realistic room to digivolve, it would be a battle of rookies.

Slowly, TK traversed the maze of pillars. Every now and then, he'd hear the telltale sign of a fireball crackling through the air as it zoomed from behind him, and he would dive out of the way. Sometimes, just in time. Other times, he wasn't so lucky. But the suit earned it's stripes, keeping TK protected and rapidly healing burns whenever they happened. It wasn't easy to catch Willis off guard in his territory, but every now and then his .45 found it's mark. He would shoot off blindly into a fireball whenever he thought he could afford it, and sometimes found Willis in front of him, an easy target.

Meanwhile, Patamon found Terriermon, who, as promised, was also different. Faster, stronger, more powerful...but Patamon had been battle hardened alongside TK over the years. He could handle it, and then some. TK as well. Willis was certainly powerful, but TK was up to it. After awhile, he lost his flying ability and began to stagger about. TK found him and unloaded a full clip into him. He fell to his knees.

"Sora...this is the end...we're all gone now...you're the only one left. You've got to live on. I'm off...to join all the others...Davis, Yolei, Cody, Matt..." he burst into flames. "Yes, I can see it now. The fires of hell will purge me clean!" And then, he exploded, sending fireballs in all directions. TK took cover, and when he looked back, there was nothing left. He took a deep breath. Patamon came around a corner, breathing heavily as well.

"It is done." They said at the same time. They headed to the other side of the room, finding a red door in the wall.

"Willis...he mentioned Matt. Said he was off to join him." He grabbed the doorknob, thinking. "I guess he's dead. Really dead. And apperantly, he followed Sora as well."

"You alright?"

"Yeah, i'll be fine. If I could stand not even bothering to know for this long...I'll be fine." He walked through the door, looking down the long tunnel that awaited them. Sure nobody was around, he sat down on the floor and started on a package of instant noodles. "Might not get a chance at eating for awhile." Patamon sat down next to him expectantly.

"Snake." Tai rang in. "You alright?"

"Yeah, just eating. I won't be long."

"Alright. Up ahead there should be a ladder that comes up inside Groznyj Grad. Your first objective is to take care of this Colonel Raikov and use it to get to Joe. Secure him. Then we have the Shagohod."

He took a deep breath. "Got it." He started eating.

"The final test should commence in a few hours. We have to get to it before that."

"Uh huh."

Patamon turned up to him. "You're wrong, TK. It wasn't easier. At least, for me."

TK pursed his lips. "I see. I guess you just dead inside enough yet. I haven't cared about killing people I don't know well personally in a long time. Killing people I know...I'll do it, but it isn't exactly easy."

"I've been doing it for a long time...but it's never easy. With anyone. I do it because I have to, and don't visually object to it...but I don't like it."

TK nodded. Slowly, he got back up, heading down the tunnel. His boots clanking on the concrete as he headed, vision on the ladder up ahead. Patamon flew on ahead, fluttering up the passage to the trap door. TK grabbed up the rungs, feeling each rusty one before putting his full weight on it.

Then, he was there. He reached up and pushed the door. It was heavy, but TK wouldn't be denied now. He pushed it to the side, it's hinges silently rotating as it fell to the side. TK looked around. He had come up right next to a warehouse. Guards were walking around all around. Thankfully, one wasn't close by, but that wouldn't last. He pulled himself up, shut the door after Patamon popped out, and crawled behind a pile of boxes. He had done it. He had penetrated the impenetrable fortress of Groznyj Grad.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Groznyj Grad

TK peered around his cover, trying to formulate a path he could take. He'd rather not cause a ruckus, not right in the heart of enemy territory. His suit was blending in well with the manmade structures around him, so he could stick his neck out quite a bit without getting noticed. He checked the barrel of his .45, trying to judge the size. He reached into a hidden compartment of his backpack and pulled his hand back out clutching a silencer.

"Been saving this for a situation like this one." He muttered, screwing it onto the tip of his gun.

"Be careful, Snake." Izzy said over the radio. "The .45 is a powerful gun, too powerful for a regular silencer. For every shot you take, the silencer degenerates and loses it's ability to mask the sound. Eventually it'll be rendered completely useless."

"I know. I'll be conservative." He looked up. "The weapons lab is just to the northeast of here. The base is divided into four sections. I've got to get to the once across from the one i'm in now." He stepped out of his cover, gun at the ready. Patamon quickly hopped up into his backpack as his orange color was unacceptable in this situation. Slowly, TK made his way across, constantly ducking under cover to avoid confrontations. He moved to the north west...and from there, he traversed to the north east area. He ducked behind a truck, as a group of dogs began sniffing the air. They began to head towards TK, sniffing.

"What's going on?" Patamon asked through the backpack.

"Dogs. I must not smell like the guards. They're coming." He readyed his gun. "Four of them. I got it." He waited for the dogs to get right up close to him. They sniffed around the truck, coming around the corner as a group. TK jumped out of his cover, slamming slugs of lead into the dogs. They gave off little whimpers as the bullets ripped into their flesh, but otherwise the whole thing was silent. He quickly swept the bodies under the truck. Hopefully nobody would move it before he was done.

He swept slowly to the east, watching out for guards as he went. After a quick run across some shadows, he was there. The weapons lab. "I'm there." He thought into his radio. "Trying to find a way in." He heard the backfire of a truck starting up. He looked off to his left, and saw a truck starting up in the distance. A guard was talking to the driver.

TK ran up to it as fast as he thought was safe, and overheard snatches of a conversation. "...the garage to the east wing of the lab. Just over there." The guard pointed at the lab. TK snuck up behind the truck and grabbed onto the back. He looked around. No guards appeared to have noticed him. His suit was doing it's job, blending in well with whatever was around him. The truck drove off towards the garage, TK holding on tight.

Luckily, no sentries passed nearby the back of the truck as it drove to the lab. While good, he doubted his suit would keep him hidden to any particularly close eyes. The truck smoothly cruised into the garage, and TK jumped off after he was in. Slowly, he creeped around the truck. The driver was slipping out of the seat, and TK ran up with his knife. He stuck it into his windpipe, covering his mouth with his hand. Blood spurted back into the truck as the man...no wait, interesting...a woman...slowly fell limp. He pushed her back into the truck, slammed the door, and ran towards the door. He slipped through the doorway after opening it slightly.

"Alright, I'm in." He looked around. His suit took on the apperance of a scientist again. "Raikov should be around here somewhere." He started casually walking around the wing, looking at guards and scientists, trying to follow what the mannerisms of a scientist might be.

He strolled casually into the bathroom, bending down to look into the toilet stalls. To his dismay, a pair of boots was visible inside the 2nd one from the left. Groaning, he thought of how he might go about this.

"Who's out there?" the voice from inside the stall suddenly growled. Perhaps he groaned a little too loud.

"Err...Colonel Raikov?"

"Yes, who are you?"

TK kicked the door to the stall down, pulling his pistol out and whipping the colonel over the head with it. The crushing blow knocked the unfortunate man out before he could react. He fell off the toilet, crumbling to the floor. Wrinkling his nose, he dragged the body out and began to undress it.

"Hey, I'm still alive back here." Patamon whispered.

"I know. If I get caught...I want you to do whatever you have to do to escape. Don't worry about me, but you need to get out. If we both get captured, it's over. If you can escape, maybe you can come back for me later or help me, or something."

"You sound like you think we'll get caught."

"It's very iffy, if i'm being honest." He brought his radio to life. "Izzy, can we get this clothes uploaded into my suit?" He had laid everything he would have needed to wear out on the floor neatly.

"Sure. Just a nano." TK almost laughed at the ancient phrase he had used so often once. "Alright, should be good to go."

He put the body back into the stall, along with the clothes. He looked unhappy. "This won't hold." He was trying to pile everything on the toilet so it couldn't be seen from the outside. "I don't have another choice..." he didn't look good.

"Hey, you losing your edge?"

"I dunno." He closed his eyes. "Somewhere inbetween seeing what happened to Granin, hearing them talking about me and the spy they know exists, seeing Ken come this" he held his finger and thumb a centimeter apart, "close to killing Kari. I don't like this."

"Well, then we better hurry!" TK nodded, walking back out the bathroom, donning the Raikov mask. He glanced in a mirror before leaving. Up close under inspection, it was pretty bad. But from a distance, it looked like it would cut it. He headed out.

An early test. A guard was just outside. He looked at TK, and immediately gave a salute. TK returned the favor and quickly moved on. He ascended a staircase, every now and then being saluted to, and saluting, passing guards. He headed west, crossing into the main wing. From the hallway which went across the main wing over to the west, he could see the Shagohod. Sitting ominously inside a giant garage. It seemed ever more sickeningly powerful from this close. Trying not to look like he was doting on the monstrosity, he kept moving. At the end of the hallway, a door flanked by a pair of guards stood. They looked at TK, considering him for just a second. They had no reason to be suspicious, it was a ridiculous idea that TK could disguise himself like this as far as they were concerned. They gave a salute and the door slid open. TK returned it and stepped through.

It was a short trip from there to Kido's room. He peered into it via a window on the door, and saw Kari talking to Joe. He whipped out his directional microphone, listening into their conversation.

"Here it is." Joe was saying, handing a roll of film to Kari.

"I'll take care of it. And what about the Digital Legacy?"

Joe turned towards the wall, walking towards it slowly. "I don't know anything about that."

Slowly, Kari pulled out her tube of lipstick. Joe looked back at her, distressed. "What are you doing?" He began to back up, towards his bed. "Are you trying to kill me!"

She started to approach him, holding the stick out. "What's the matter?"

"Are you insane? I don't know anything, I swear!" He climbed onto the bed, backing up to the wall. "No one but Volgin does!" He shut his eyes, shaking as Kari put the tube up to his face.

"I see."

"No!" He curled up into a ball, whimpering. She pushed the little button on the side up, and a...perfectly normal lipstick tube emerged. Joe looked up, confused.

"You need to lighten up, Joe." She said casually, putting some of it on before pocketing it again. She headed to the door. TK decided to keep hidden, even from her, for the moment, and took cover behind a pile of boxes to his left.

After she was clear, he walked into Joe's room, removing his mask. Joe looked at him, slowly recognizing him. "Takeru! What are you doing here?"

"I already told you. I'm getting you out of here."

Joe smiled. "A man of honor. Just like Tai." He sighed, pacing again. How he had always loved to pace. "But you are too late."

"Too late...the Shagohod...don't tell me-"

Joe nodded. "Phase 2 is really to go. All that's left is a test."

"What is this Phase 2?"

"Well." Joe began to wave his arms around animatedly. "It's a composite range extension system for the missiles the Shagohod packs. The idea of the Shagohod is so you can launch a nuclear weapon from any type of terrain. But there was a problem. ICBMs are too big for a tank to carry. We would have to use a smaller missile if the tank was to be able to function. But then the missile would be unable to have the range we originally thought it could. The military demanded we find a way to extend the range of the weapon, so they could strike the heart of Server from anywhere."

"What'd you do?"

"Phase 2 is a rocket booster on the shagohod itself. This booster allows the Shagohod to achieve a landspeed of 300 miles an hour."

TK felt his bile rise inside his stomach. "That...thing...can move at 300 miles an hour?"

"Yes. And from this speed, it launches the missile. The shagohod acts as the first stage of the rocket. This extends it's range from 2500 to 6000 miles. It can strike anywhere in Server from anywhere else in the world, practically. All you need is 3 miles or so of runway, or a flat surface, so the Shagohod can speed up. It can launch an attack from anywhere, to just about anywhere, undetectable. A mobile fortress."

"A weapon from hell if i've ever heard one."

"The prototype is in the hangar out there. But it's just the beginning. Volgin wants to mass-produce them. He wishes to deploy them all over Buffet and other countries in the eastern bloc. And he wants to use it as bait to foment armed uprisings against dictators, ethnic insurgents, and revolutionary groups throughout the third world. He has a limitless supply of funds. Mass-production is not far off, I'm afraid." He paused, looking down at his desk darkly. ""Deterrence"...using threats to keep your enemy in check. This...cold war revolves around it. But this Shagohod is far beyond the level of threat. Soon, this entire world will be engulfed in the fires of war. So you see...it's too late."

"Not if I can help it." He went up to Joe, grabbing him. "If I can destroy the Prototype, they can't mass-produce it."

Joe nodded. "Perhaps...but..."

"Can it be done?"

"Alright. We use liquid fuel to power the rocket. It's stored in tanks in the hangar. If you can put explosives on those tanks...like C3...you could destroy the entire hangar and the Shagohod with it."

"I heard something about some C3 being stolen from a warehouse in here."

"Yes. She took it." He pointed out the door. "Kari. She got in here by pretending to be my lover."

"I know. What did you give her just now?"

"All of the experimental data for the Shagohod."

"Okay. I've got to get you to safety before I can take down the Shagohod."

He looked down at the ground, his armed folded over his chest. "No. I'm not going." He said darkly.

"My mission is to rescue you."

"To what? I can not return to Gagarin. I would certainly be executed after all that has happened."

"Then come to Server."

He laughed mirthlessly. "Yes. I once thought I could do that. But now, even I see...Tai has no influence anymore. If I go to Server, I will once again be forced to work on my DNAT projects. It doesn't matter where I go. I will always be the scientist who can combine digimon powers with technology to create the ultimate weapons. I am tired." He walked over to his bed, sitting down. "Tired of creating weapons that should never be used, never be created. Never praised. And my creations don't even benefit mankind. I am nothing more than a tool for the politics of this world. I'd rather stay here and die." He looked at at TK. "Please, take care of my family and Gomamon."

TK just nodded, unable to find anything to say that could combat his speech. More than anything, he was shocked at how brave Joe was being. Then, footsteps outside. TK donned the mask again. "Patamon, go!" He hissed at his backpack. He popped out, fluttering quickly into an air vent.

Volgin walked through the doors of Joe's room, looking the two over. TK gave a salute. "Where have you been? I've been waiting for you in my room."

He knew he couldn't imitate Raikov's voice, so he just stood there in silence, his brain failing to come up with anything. Then, the thing he least expected to happen happened. Volgin reached down and grabbed his balls. Frozen stiff for a moment, he grabbed his hand and pushed him away. The wrong thing to do apperantly. Volgin grabbed them again, getting angry.

"Who are you?" He pulled away from his balls. "Don't play dumb. You're not Raikov, I know him better than anyone else." He pulled out a pistol from his inner pocket and aimed it at TK's head. After a pause, he then pivoted and turned it on Joe, shooting both his kneecaps. Joe screamed and fell over, groaning and grabbing his legs. He turned back to TK, who had already taken a fighting stance. He flipped Volgin over, ripping the pistol from Volgin and turning it on him.

The, the door slid open, and Sora ran in. Tai turned the gun on her, but she knocked it away cleanly, knocking his hand to the side and kicking his legs out from under him. Then, she flipped him over, throwing him down hard. She then grabbed his mask. "What's this? A disguise? It's gonna rub off on you, and you'll lose sight of who you really are." She ripped it off, exposing his face.

Volgin rolled back to his feet and recovered his gun, about to shoot TK. Then, Sora intervened. She leaped forward, grabbing the gun and throwing it to the side. "No!" She yelled. "We keep him alive, for now."

He groaned. Then, he slowly flashed a smile. "Very well. If you say so." He walked up to TK, just standing there rather stupidly. "All the more time to make you pay for hurting Ivan." His body crackled with electricity. "Leave us. And take this sniveling coward downstairs." He pointed at Joe, still crying on the ground.

Sora grabbed the back of Joe's collar, dragging him out. TK looked at this scene, thinking about how pathetic Joe looked. But he was brought back to reality when Volgin punched him hard in the face. The electricity shocked him along with the power of his blow. He stepped backwards, trying to take a position so as to defend. But it was no good. Each punch zapped his energy, shocking him to his core. He tried to keep his feet to maintain some pride, as he certainly couldn't fight back. He felt each punch draw more blood from his nose and mouth. He collapsed at Volgin's feet, all of his will gone. Volgin picked him up, brutally punching his ribs, then bashing his head against his knee. Finally, he stood TK up, and delivered a knockout blow. He fell back in a pool of blood, and the world slowly faded to black.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: In the kingdom of the blind, the one eyed man is king

Slowly, he came back to. The world slowly came back into focus...but it was black as well. Then, he realized a black plastic bag was covering his head, tied around his neck. Everytime he breathed in, the bag clung to and hung around his face, and everytime he breathed out, if puffed out to maximum size. He tried to orientate himself. His hands were tied above his head. As far as he could tell, he was hanging from the ceiling, unsure of how far off the ground he was. His shirt had been removed. All of his equipment was gone. He felt cold and naked. He knew what was coming next as the details of his conversation with Joe, the fight with Volgin and Sora, and the following complete humiliation at the hands of Volgin flooded back into his mind. It still hurt to think about it.

His ears started to pick up the sounds of punches landing on...it appeared to be a person...in a closeby room. With each punch, he thought he could hear a groan. He couldn't be sure, but he thought it was Joe. Then, the punching was accompanied by talking. Volgin and Kari.

"Tell me!" Another hard punch.

"Stop it!" Kari protested.

"Who have you been talking to?!" He continued to beat the living hell out of Joe.

"He doesn't know what you're talking about!" Kari insisted.

"You better start talking!" TK could hear the groans decline in their volume with each punch.

"Please, stop!"

"Who is Gagarin's lapdog? I know you gave that data to someone!"

"He'd never do a thing like that! You monster!"

Slowly, the punches ceased. TK could hear Kari crying. She was good.

"Hmm. I guess he's dead." Kari bawled harder. TK could hear the voice getting closer to him. "Now then...hopefully you can be more...fun than he was." He could hear his footsteps circling him. "You're a tough one, my friend. A lesser man would be dead by now. Well then, let's get started with some basics." He gave TK a hard punch in the gut. He groaned and swung back a little bit. "What is your target?" He continued to give hard blows to various points of the body as he talked. "Is it the Shagohod? Kido? The legacy? Answer me! Who is helping you?" This continued for some time. Finally, the blows stopped. TK sucked in air. "You're a tough one. But even you must have your limits. And I am a patient man."

The footsteps clanked away. TK thought he might have been safe, but then a wave of water crashed down on him. "Now, the fun can really begin. My body carries quite the electrical charge. Let's see how you like this!" He heard someone...maybe Ken...laugh a bit before it began.

The next thing TK knew was the incredible pain of electrical shocks coursing through his water covered body. He thought for sure he'd die, but when the charges ceased, he was still alive, hanging limply. "How much does SFS know?" He continued shocking him, harder and harder each time, at least it felt so to TK. "They're after my legacy, aren't they?! Aren't they?!" TK couldn't take it anymore. He relieved himself in his pants. "Yes. Yes. Let yourself go! That's what I like to see."

A door slid open and a pair of people walked into the room. "It's no use." Sora's voice said. "He won't talk. Ever. He's been trained too well."

Volgin growled. Then, TK was taken by suprise by a hard punch to his stomach, amplified by the electrical surge Volgin carried. "Admit it! You're after my legacy, aren't you?!" He began to wail on TK over and over again, frustrated by his lack of response. "One hundred billion dollars. The fund established by the three great powers back during the world wars." If TK wasn't going through so much pain, he might have thought it interesting that the digital world was discovered back during the world wars, and that he might want to investigate it later. He also might have thought about Granin's information being slightly inaccurate. But his mind only had room for the resistance he was putting up.

"Divided up and hidden all over the digital world. You want a record of where all that's being kept, don't you?" He laughed, backing off. TK almost took a sigh of relief too early. "No matter. I've got those records hidden in the underground vault." Why do villians always lay out everything for the heroes when they're captured, TK thought. For a second, his mind went back to all those movies and cartoons where the villians would explain things to the hero, assuming the hero was about to die, but then the hero would escape and use the information to stop him. I guess they never learned. But then, Volgin pushed TK back, and he swung back. He began to fall forward, bracing himself for what was coming. "You'll never lay a finger on it." A massive punch nearly took TK out of it.

Something clattered to the floor after the punch. "What's this? A transmitter?" TK managed to put himself back together enough to care about this. His codec had acted as a transmitter to SFS, he was unaware of a second tracking device being on his person. "Who's responsible for this?" Volgin demanded.

A pause. "I am." Sora's voice came forth. I wanted to track his movements. So my men could ambush him."

"If you were able to track his movements...why did your men get themselves slaughtered?" Another pause. "...it pains me to do this, Sora. But I am going to need proof that you and this agent aren't in collusion."

"You don't trust me now?"

"No...no...not that."

"What do you want me to do."

A third pause. TK felt his heart pumping at a mile a minute. "Cut out his eyes!" His heart jumped up into his throat. "I don't like those eyes of his...yes. There's nothing more important to a soldier than his eyes. You were one of those who helped him become a soldier...and now you will unmake him. A touching display I think."

TK thought of the death pill, no longer taped onto his body, stripped no doubt in the search before the interrogation, along with everything else he had. He wouldn't have minded having it now, he thought. He could take alot...but his eyes...he heard a knife being pulled from it's guard. Then, the bag on his head was ripped off. His eyes adjusted to the light. Sora was standing right in front of him. She looked oddly...helpless. He looked around. Volgin stood to the left, anticipating the show if the look on his face showed anything. Kari was huddled in the corner, obviously having been crying alot, looking terrified. Ken watched, his face revealing no emotion.

Sora raised a knife up to TK's face. His mind came up blank. He had nothing for this situation. His only hope was that Patamon would zoom into the room and kill them all, but that wouldn't happen. He tried to look defiant, trying to take this like a man. It was all he had now. The blade was about to sink into his eye socket, when Kari jumped to her feet and yelled "Stop!"

The interuption of what had been a dead silence sans TK's breathing caused every head in the room to turn to her. She ran up to Sora, grabbing the knife. "He's suffered enough." She said defiantly. _No you dumb broad. Don't blow your cover. I'm toast, but you might be able to stop Volgin if you can keep your cover._ TK was thinking. But he couldn't say anything. It would cement both their fates.

Ken walked right up to Kari, sniffing again. "Why are you defending him?!" He got up close to her, sniffing. "I know that smell..." he jumped back, pointing at Kari. "You're the enemy spy! I knew we should have killed you the moment we found you. Like you'd ever end up with Joe."

She paused, looking around, trying to think of how to deal with this situation. "What are you talking about?!"

Ken reached forward, grabbing her chest again. TK felt a surge of jealously that he thought was long dead. "I know that smell...and I know this-"

Kari slapped him across the face, leaving a red mark across the cheek. He looked up, growling.

"Taken a fancy to her?"

"No. I care nothing for this woman." He looked her over closely, trying to find guilt on her. Slowly, he pulled out a revolver. Kari gasped. TK could only watch helplessly. "I want to test her." He loaded a single bullet into the revolver, spinning the barrel around and around, then stopping it at a random point. He threw it up into the air and pulled out two more, and began juggling them.

"Do as you like." Volgin instructed. TK was closely watching the revolvers twirl through the air, keeping an eye on the one he knew was loaded. And he suspected had the bullet waiting to fire at the first pull of the trigger. With each pull of the trigger, Kari winced and backed away towards the wall. One...two...three...TK could tell by watching how Ken juggled that four was about to be fired, and the revolver containing the bullet would be doing the firing. He swung his legs forward, building up momentum to swing his body forward. Ken passed right by a TK he assumed to be out of commission. TK crashing into him just as he fired came as a complete suprise. Reflexively, he pivoted towards this disturbance as his finger pulled back on the trigger. He didn't get it all the way around before the bullet sped out, but he got around enough. The bullet sped out right at TK's face. It only barely clipped his right eye, but it was enough. He screamed, his vision out of his right eye leaving him instantly. Kari screamed, covering her face. Ken backed away from TK's now mangled face, eyeing the partially shot off eyeball, still in the socket.

Sora walked up to Ken, grabbing the revolver and slapping him in the face. "Satisfied?" Ken just looked at her, helplessness and fury fighting to take over the expression on his face.

"Well...that was refreshing." Volgin began, walking back up to TK. "Let me get that for you." He said sarcastically, grabbing the useless eyeball and pulling it out of the socket. TK screamed once again as he yanked it from the nerves holding it in. "Come on." He turned and left the room.

Ken walked up behind TK, picked the transmitter off the floor at his feet, and shoved it into a gash above TK's right shoulder blade. Wishing he was dead, TK groaned as it sank back into his flesh.

"Amazing..." he was circling TK now. "You survived the colonel's torture." He applauded. "Watching this has been...eye opening. It's really not all that bad. It seems sick...but it's the ultimate form of expression, really." He then turned to Kari, his expression turning to stone again. "You got lucky this time. But I know you too well. You are the spy, and I intend to prove it." He turned on his heel and left.

Sora picked up the third revolver and loaded it with a single bullet. She rotated it into the barrel, and took aim right at TK's head. TK didn't have the energy to respond, so he just hung there. To his suprise, and partial relief, she pointed it down at his right thigh and shot. He thought he might have rather taken a shot in the head and died at this point, but somehow he hadn't given up quite yet, somewhere deep inside. He groaned slightly, having gone through too much in the last couple of minutes to really care about something as trivial as a bullet in the thigh. She turned and left as well. Only Kari was left, pretending to be mortified in the corner. When Sora left, she got up and walked up to him.

"Go west. Pass underneath the connect passageway and go north. You'll find an open manhole. Go down into the sewers, and get to the north end to find an unlocked door. That'll get you out of this fortress. I've got your equipment, we'll meet up later."

He almost accidentally let Kari slip out of his mouth. But years of training caught him. "Eva..."

"Quiet, there are guards right outside." She looked at the door. "I can't help you out of your cell though, you'll have to figure something out." She turned around and left. The door slid open when she approached it, and two guards entered as she left. They grabbed him, ripping him down from the ceiling, dragging him away.

He was pulled across a short hallway and thrown into a cell. He lay there, face down on the hard cold rock, contemplating laying here forever. But somehow, he thought of seeing Kari again, and that motivated him more than the mission. He pushed himself up, looking around his room. It was empty except for a cot and toilet. He slowly got to his feet, sore all over, tired and hungry. He looked down on the cot, trying to convince himself not to fall on it and go to sleep. He thought he saw an odd shape already on the bed. He rubbed his eyes and realized it was a revolver. One of Ken's. He thought of Sora, who had taken the 3rd revolver to shoot him. Had she thrown it in here for him? He glanced behind him, checking that the guard was patrolling on the other side of hallways, and checked it. It appeared to be in working order, but was empty.

He sat down on the floor, trying to come up with something. Once again, he had nothing. That was happening far too much lately. He had nothing. The guard came back up the hallway on his patrol, looking into the cell. He threw TK a fork and a dead bat. TK glared at it for a second, then picked up the fork. He grabbed the bat, pretending to start eating it. But when the guard passed by, he put it down. Quickly, he stuck his fork into the bullet hole in his thigh. The bullet was still there, he could feel it. He felt like he was trying to do surgery with a hammer, but eventually, he managed to pry the bullet out, along with quite a bit of blood. He realized it wasn't a bullet at all, but a capsule containing a death pill. He smiled. He couldn't believe that Sora didn't have the guts to kill him herself, and instead tried to give him the means to do it himself. Not today, Sora. Not today.

He felt the transmitter in his shoulder blade, but couldn't reach that. The guard passed by again, and TK put the capsule in his pocket. Then, he saw a strange flash of orange clinging onto the back of the guard. He got up and tried to casually walk up to the bars of his cell, but may have moved a bit too fast. Luckily, the guard didn't notice. He looked over at him, and Patamon was clinging onto his back. He was perfectly still, not making a sound, apperantly too light to be noticed. His wings were spread out, and a number was painted onto his back. 144.75.

He looked at it blankly for a second, trying to figure it out. Then the guard turned around, and saw TK. "What are you lookin it?"

TK settled for waving stupidly and walking back to his cot. He sat down. The number looked like a frequency for his codec. Mentally, he began to flip the frequency on his codec around, until he found 144.75. He tried to patch a transmission to it. Nobody answered, but he heard a clicking sound. The guard spun around quickly, looking at TK's cell. The door to the cell had slid open. He took aim with his pistol, shuffling over to the cell, when Patamon's wings came from around his head and snapped it. He fell over, his neck broken.

Patamon flew over to the cell. "Come on, let's get going! And holy shit, what happened to your right eye?!"

"Ken shot it out. Who wrote that on your back?" He asked, grabbing the revolver and walking out.

"I ran into Kari out there after she left. I found a list of frequencies to unlock the cells in the guardhouse."

"Kari?" He walked right up to him. "If anyone saw you talking to her..."

"Nobody saw me. Besides, I'm not her digimon. I'm yours." He flew towards the door to the south. TK doted on this statement, it meaning much more to him right now than it usually would of. "Hey, get moving!" Patamon snapped him out of it, and he started running.

"Snake, you alright?" Tai's voice came through his codec.

"Yeah. I just got out."

"Be careful. You don't have a single decent weapon or piece of equipment. Find Eva and get your equipment back."

"On it." Suddenly he stopped. "Wait." He ran back into his cell and grabbed the fork.

"Snake, now's really not the time for-"

"No." He handed the fork to Patamon and turned his back to him. "Can you dig the transmitter out of the gash here?" He motioned to his right shoulder.

"Errr..." He pointed the fork at it, flying in, trying to stick it in. His hands weren't exactly designed to manipulated a human sized fork. After drawing quite a bit of blood, he managed to pry the transmitter out. TK grabbed it and crushed it inbetween his fingers.

"Start by exiting to the door to the northwest. That'll get you out of the holding cell block." Tai instructed. TK complied, running over to the door. It slid open after detecting him, opening up to the outer world. He stepped out. He breathed the fresh air in deeply. He was down, but not out. Unconsciously, his hand went up to his empty eye socket.

"You think...with one eye...we can do this?" Patamon asked. "Your depth perception must be terribly off."

"Don't worry, Patamon." He insisted. "In the kingdom of the blind..." he looked around the fortress slowly. "the one eyed man is king."


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16: A great sorrow

Purposefully, they moved to the northwest. The security appeared to be slightly lax compared to before, probably because most people were under the assumption that he was captured. But Patamon's orange color continued to be a subject of woe for TK.

"Seriously, I think we should look into getting you, like, painted or something. If we get out of here, I think it's worth a look."

"Yes, this is a wonderful way to show your gratitude for getting you out of that cell." Patamon pouted.

"I'm only trying to help you." Then, he froze and ran behind a tank. Patamon followed quickly. Dogs sniffing their way. "Can you?"

Patamon zoomed out from behind the tank and crashed into the dogs at high speed, knocking both of them over. He then went up to their bodies and snapped both their necks with his wings before they got up. TK leaped out, shoving the dogs under the tank. They proceeded, vigilant for more such threats. In the distance, they could see the open manhole. "Alright, here we go." A minute later, they were descending into the sewers.

When they reached the bottom, a box was waiting at the bottom. He opened it up and it was filled with Revolver rounds. Patamon looked over TK's shoulder. "What moron leaves a box of revolver bullets lieing around in a sewer?"

TK began loading his revolver, then filling his pockets. As he did so, he began to do the math. "Sora..."

"What was that TK?" Patamon asked.

"It's snake. And nothing." He got up and began walking down the sewers.

"Snake?" It was Kari. "You in the sewers?"

"Yeah. I'm heading north for that door you mentioned."

"Er...there's a problem." TK sighed. "When the Colonel found out you escaped, he put the fortress on red alert. The door I unlocked was locked automatically. And there's a unit down in the sewers right now."

"Shit. Now what?"

"Go straight north, past the door. You should come to a waterfall that opens out to the river leading out of Groznyj Grad."

"A waterfall? You expect me to jump down a waterfall?"

"You don't have any other choice. Hurry, they'll be there any minute!" The connection cut.

TK stood there, eye closed, looking at the ground, frustrated. Patamon flew ahead of him. "Come on, move it!" Suddenly, TK roared and punched the side of the sewer as hard as he could. Cracks spidered out from the spot. Frowning rather comically, he goosestepped ahead. "You okay?" Patamon dared to ask as he walked past him.

"Ow." Was all TK had in response, shaking his hand. Then, he heard a dog barking, snapping him out of his temper tantrum. He began to sprint forward. Every time he ran into a wall, he ducked down and crawled through a crawlspace to the next area. He repeated this for some time, each time hearing the dogs and footsteps getting closer. He could see the light of the outside world now...the waterfall was just ahead. He turned around, continung to run. The dogs were pushing through the crawlspace, giving pursuit. He pulled out his revolver and aimed it back at them, firing randomly. He heard a few squeals, but didn't look to see if he got any kills. He kept running...he was just about there now...gunfire behind him, bouncing off the ground and the walls around him.

He reached the edge of the waterfall, slowing to a halt. He didn't feel like blindly running off any more cliffs. He looked down. His heart fell. It was a long, long fall. Apperantly, longer than Kari had given it credit for. To jump down this would be suicide. He turned around and faced the guards, who had stopped firing on him. He wondered why he wasn't already dead. Then he heard a voice.

Ken. "Stop! Nobody shoot him!" He was yelling, running up to them. He slowed to a halt in front of him. "He's mine." He pulled out a revolver, and loaded a single bullet. "Look familiar?" TK just stared blankly at him. "It's the bullet that jammed my gun the first time we met." He pointed the revolver at TK. "Not this time." He spun the bullet into the chamber to be fired. "And now, I say goodbye." TK felt the revolver in his hand, already knowing he had shot off all 6 rounds at the dogs.

He pulled back on the hammer and clicked the trigger back. Nothing. He looked down at the gun, confused. TK decided to take his chances in the river. He fell backwards, off the waterfall. Patamon zoomed after him in a nose dive.

"No!" Ken yelled, running up to him, firing twice more. Once again, nothing happened but an empty click. He looked down the waterfall, seeing TK fall down to his apperant death. He streamlined his body, smoothly going into the water below. A few feet away, he came up, Patamon trying to grab onto him. He was flailing about, still alive. Ken considered trying to shoot him from here, taking aim. But he knew it was futile.

"Shit." He muttered, looking down at his revolver. He pointed it at the wall, and fired three times. A round exploded from the barrel the third time, putting a tiny pockmark in the wall. Apperantly, he had rotated the barrel one slot too many, pushing the bullet into the last chamber to be fired off. "Dammit!" He threw the gun at the wall in frustration. He looked back down in the river. "Don't you die on me yet..." He walked away through the group of guards, and they followed him, a little confused over what just happened.

----------------------------------------------------

TK was pushed down the river by the current for some time, until he reached a point where his feet could touch the bottom. Gasping for breath, his head just above water, he looked up at Patamon, who had failed in trying to pull him out.

"Why didn't you just digivolve?"

"I'm hungry." He said sadly.

"Well suck it up. You're lucky the river gets shallow here..." he looked up. It was dark. He was quiet sure it was midday not long ago. "Was I floating down the river that long?"

"No...this is strange." TK began to wade upriver, Patamon flying behind him. They walked for awhile, not even sure if they were getting anywhere. Then, a strange figure became visible in the distance upriver. Slowly, it floated closer as they approached it.

TK pulled out his revolver, slowly loading it. After it was full, he took aim at the figure. "You! Who are you?" He demanded.

"Sad...so sad...every unknown is met by pointing a weapon."

"What are you babbling about?"

Slowly, he started turning around. TK realized it wasn't quite...human. It had the form and shape of a human, but the figure was translucent. As if a spirit. "Hello, little bro." It began. It was Matt. He hadn't seen him in such a long time, but there was no mistaking that giant blond haircut and deep scratchy voice.

"Matt?!" TK exclaimed, nearly dropping his gun. "Are you with Sora?"

"No." He looked down at the ground, frowning. "I can never be with Sora. I am doomed to be forever sad." The trees around them suddenly burst into flame. TK looked around quickly, confused, but soon pointed his gun back at the transperant Matt.

"What is this?"

"Even your own brother. Everything is greeted by the barrel of a gun, isn't it?" He paused, almost letting a smile cross his face. "Do you know what became of me? Or do you really not care about anything anymore?"

TK shook his head. Matt laughed. "Very well. I will tell you before we begin. After the defeat of Malomyotismon, I confessed my love to Sora. I had been...unhappy all my life, but with her I was happy. She completed me, made my life. She was my everything. But we had different ideals. She believed that the west had the right idea in the wars. I believed in the east. Two emotions playing a tug of war inside our heads, each one as powerful as the other. We never stopped loving each other, but we had to do what we believed in. For years, we loved each other in secret. We could never tell anyone, surely it would be seen as a potential leak for both sides. But two years ago, Sora was handed a top secret mission. To assassinate me."

"So that's what that mission was." TK said to himself.

"That's right. The person in the world who I most cared for, cared for above all else, had to kill me. And she did. We knew it could not end without one of us killing the other. I let her, for I knew I could not kill her. I don't have the genes to be a ruthless soldier. But she had "Loyalty to the End"...to Server. To the president. To Tai. She would do anything for her beliefs and country. So, she killed me. I have waited in the afterlife for two years now. I received DNA modifications years ago that allowed me to become a powerful medium, through which I maintain spirit form. But she is a resilent, tough woman. I fear I may not have her for a very long time. I can see her through my spirit form, but that is small consolation. And so, once again, I am sad. Sad like I always have been. For a short time, I found happiness, but it slipped away, like it always does."

"Cry me a river. What's this got to do with me?"

"Takeru. How many people and digimon do you think you've killed in your lifetime?"

TK just looked at him blankly, still keeping the revolver on him.

"Exactly. You don't have the slightest idea. You can't possibly count them all. You too, Patamon. You two have killed a ridiculous amount of humans and digimon, and for what? All in the name of a belief?"

"I killed them as part of missions. Missions for Server, the president. What I believed in."

"I was killed by the one I loved because of beliefs. I wasn't wrong, nor was she. We were simply different." He turned around looking behind him into the distance. "Yes. Different. You, Takeru, do this every day. You have killed countless thousands just because they had different beliefs. And all through it, you maintain a straight face and a guiltless conscience. Some might call you...a soldier...a loyal servant...an agent...but I see through all of this, for what you really are." He turned around quickly, his eyes flashing at TK. "A murderer."

"You couldn't possibly understand."

"But I do. Your conscience has remained clean for far too long, buried under layers of protection created by your callous indifference to anyone else. Even when you kill your old friends, people you once knew, you didn't care. I'd bet you'd kill each other if you were so instructed by Tai without a second thought." He began to cry blood, red tears slowly falling down his cheeks. "But I will make you feel it."

TK took a unconscious step back at the sight of the blood.

"The others, Davis, Yolei, tried to defeat you by fighting. Physically. But I will destroy you from the inside out, mentally. I will bring you into the afterlife, where you will get to experience that which you have given so many people. But first, I will make you know the pain you have caused." He began to float in midair, just above the river surface.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

"I have met those you have slain, Takeru and Patamon. Each and every last one. All of them, a host of sorrows. They had families, beliefs, goals, that they will never get to achieve, because of you. And we're all here. Let's see if your soul can handle the weight of meeting him for one last time." He began to float backwards, upriver even further. "When we are done with you, you will fall to your knees, begging forgiveness. But I have none for you now."

TK and Patamon watched Matt began to hover upriver. Wrinkling his nose, TK waded up to the riverbank. He tried to climb out of the river, but found a invisible barrier. Patamon tried to fly up into the sky, out of this madness, but he encounted a similar wall.

TK pointed his revolver up at Matt. He clicked the hammer back and fired. The bullet zoomed harmlessly through his body. He smiled. "You and your guns." He held out his right palm to TK, sending a beam of light at him. He fell over, the blast winding him him. "Play nice." TK slowly got back up, and saw a large group of more spirits heading his way. They were staggering downriver almost casually, talking to nobody in particular.

TK turned to Patamon. "Patamon, listen to me. Keep walking. Don't touch them, don't let them touch you. And whatever you do, don't listen to them."

Patamon nodded, looking mortified. Slowly, they proceeded through the river. They walked through countless spirits, passing by the other direction. They would look at him, occasionally throw a rude comment at him. Otherwise, they'd talk about things they missed in life, seemingly to themselves. In fact, they were trying to break TK's indifference to their deaths.

"There's no way my wife can support five children on her own..."

"...mother must be heartbroken over-"

"...wanted was a socialist government, is that so-"

"...just three days away from retirement-"

"Don't listen to them!" TK yelled at Patamon. He was looking back and forth at them, terrified. "Tune them out!"

Matt laughed, still floating backwards, more blood pouring from his eyes. "You see? And this is just the beginning."

More and more spirits came down the river, some humans, some digimon, muttering about their deaths and talking about their lives. TK was singing the entire _Abbey Road_ soundtrack in his head, not listening to anything, walking forward purposefully. Patamon, however, wasn't quite so strong. He couldn't help but let what these spirits were saying filter into his head, that he had sent them to the afterlife, robbing them of their livelyhoods and dreams. Years of death passed by them in the river, and with each passing year, Patamon appeared to grow weaker.

TK growled, and grabbed him, hugging him. "Listen to me!" He yelled. "We killed them because we had to. Because we believed in something! And would do whatever it took to achieve that. Don't pay attention, it's a trick!"

"Oh, brother. It's no trick, I am just showing you the pain and misery you've caused in your life."

"It's okay. I'm here." He growled into Patamon's ear. "We killed these people and digimon so that the world could be a better place, in the name of the digidestined!"

Matt laughed. "How can you honestly say so much death and destruction has made this world a better place?"

"Don't listen to them!" TK hissed.

"Okay." Patamon said weakly.

"Hmm. Impressive, little brother. I may have misjudged you." Matt went on, floating backwards upriver as more and more spirited walked down. "You're an oak. Whatever soul and conscience you might have has been shielded beyond digging out. Behind layers of righteousness."

TK just snorted. "You could never understand what it means to do what has to be done to achieve what you want. There's a mentality true soldiers have to have. I have it, Sora has it, Tai has it...you don't."

"This mentality you speak of is a plague on this world. It does nothing but drive people apart, forcing them to do things they should never do because they could care less. It is this mentality that drove me and Sora apart. That drove her to kill me."

TK looked up at Matt, still hugging Patamon tightly to his chest as they kept walking. "If there was nobody in the world with that mentality, nothing would ever get done."

They were passing by guards he had killed in the last 24 hours now. Yolei, Davis, Cody, Willis came by eventually as well, saying things like "I can't believe he actually killed me...without a second thought!"

"Think what you will, you'll have plenty of time to see my point of view in hell!" He hissed.

Suddenly, Patamon started bawling in his arms. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he dug harder into TK's chest. "What the hell are you doing?" TK hissed. His first reaction was to hit Patamon until he snapped out of it, yell at him, or something equally violent...but some motherly instinct, thought long dead, took over. He began to cuddle Patamon, stroking the back of his head. "It's okay. I'm here. Listen to me. Don't pay attention to them." He began rocking him back and forth, as if an infant.

Matt watched, interest flooding his face. "Interesting...an act?" He reached out a curled finger, pointing it at the pair. The most recent victims of TK and Patamon, a group of dogs, passed by. "No. True compassion for another." He looked down at the ground, eyes closed, deep in thought. "You've killed a thousand men and digimon without a second thought, and you've walked through the valley of their souls without flinching. And yet, here you are showing...love to another. Perhaps you're not the soulless beast I thought."

TK looked up at Matt, fire in his eyes. "You're right. we've killed a thousand men and digimon because of our beliefs, and i'll kill a thousand more without so much as blinking. The only other living being I give a shit about on a personal level is Patamon, and the I'll follow the orders of Server, the president, Tai no matter what. I'll kill or die for them. But not because I'm too dead inside to think for myself. I believe in what I'm doing. If I deserve to die for that, go ahead." Patamon had stopped crying, wiping tears from under his eyes with his wings. He was looking up at TK with admiration in his eyes.

Matt just started to chuckle. "Damn you Takeru. I don't think I can kill you now. Forgive me, I appear to have misjudged you." He smiled. "Perhaps you are truly a man who believes in what he fights for. Very well." He floated back down to the ground. "I have no love for Volgin or his insane plans, and can't begin to understand why Sora has allied herself within such a group. So now, I will wish you good luck, and send you on your way." He walked up to him. "I don't think this is the last time we'll see each other." He reached out his hands, touching the two of them, and both fell to the ground, blacking out.

When TK opened his eyes again, he was lying on the bottom of a river. His quickly pushed off, feeling his lungs demanding air, and grabbed Patamon by the wing. He quickly swam up, gasping as he broke the surface. He threw Patamon up on the riverbank, then climbed up on it himself. Both of them lay there, half choking water out of their lungs, half thinking about the strange experience they had just had.

"We should probably...cut down...on the drugs." Patamon choked out.

"Hey, I can't speak for you, but i'm clean." TK insisted. He lay back on the ground, thinking. "That was no trip. That was real. We almost passed to the other side."

"You said you weren't sure."

"What?"

"You said...you weren't sure, if you cared for me anymore. Last week. Remember?"

TK looked up at the sky. "I do now."

"Snake, Snake. Are you okay?" Tai. Why didn't he ever contact him when he really needed it?

"Yeah. Almost passed to the other side there." He choked out more water.

"What happened? You fell down that waterfall and floated downriver for some time, and then we lost you for a minute...you only just came back." Mimi was now saying.

TK grinned inspite of himself. "I saw Matt...his spirit...he wanted to kill me...he wanted to make me know all the death I had caused. I met the spirits of every person and digimon we've ever killed. He thought we had become soulless killers...but he saw he was wrong when I showed affection to Patamon. He let me go."

An awkard pause. Then, a audible sigh. "Snake, my moral objection to doing what you want in your free time non-withstanding, I can't allow you to do drugs in the middle of a mission. If it happens again, you'll see cleanup duty for a decade, mark my words!"

"I didn't do any drugs!" He growled, getting annoyed.

"Zero's right, drugs can make you lose your grip of reality and-"

"Shut the hell up! It was real! I wasn't tripping! Here, i'll prove it!" He pulled out his revolver. "When I fell in the river, my revolver was empty because I had unloaded it at the dogs. But I loaded it when I met Matt and fired one bullet at him before I realized it was useless." He checked the barrel. Sure enough, there were 5 rounds loaded. "See? See?"

Another pause. "Whatever. Just go meet up with Eva."

As if on cue, Kari rang into his ear. "Snake? What happened?"

"I had to jump off that waterfall. I floated downriver for awhile, and then..." he went into an explanation of his encounter with Matt, the same he gave Tai. When he was done, another odd silence.

"Snake, I know you've been through alot, but drugs in the middle of missions can be a-"

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG YOU PEOPLE?!" TK yelled suddenly, causing Patamon to jump. "I wasn't doing any fucking drugs! Now where can I meet you?!" He was breathing heavily now, angered by these baseless accusations.

"...fine. Keep going down the river, you'll come to another waterfall soon if you floated far enough. I'll meet you behind it, there's a good cave we can use."

"Sure." He started walked back down the river, Patamon on his heels.

"Listen, I won't judge you, if you've got some weed hidden away or something-"

TK couldn't take it anymore. He pulled out his revolver and unloaded his five rounds in a perimeter around Patamon. Nothing actually hit him, of course, but it caused him to freeze. TK turned back around, stomping away.

"That's my TK." Patamon thought to himself.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Lust

TK was still pouting up ahead, so Patamon kept his distance as they made their way through the forest up the river. Soon, they came upon a large waterfall, gallons of water beating down on the rocks below it. They creeped there way around it, and came into a cave. TK looked around. A long-since burnt out fire, a package of instant noodles, and a small radio were found in various places across the rock floor. There was also a passageway further into the cave, but that could be looked at later. He sat down on the ground, waiting. He reached into his pocket, feeling all his revolver rounds had floated away in the river. He groaned. Maybe taking his anger out on Patamon wasn't the best idea.

"Come on, we got a minute, bring out the cannabis!" Patamon exclaimed.

TK's hands curled into fists, and he turned to Patamon to say, probably yell, something. But what he was going to yell was never found out, for at that moment, a motorcycle crashed through the waterfall. TK jumped up, instinctively reaching for his revolver. But the motorcycle carried a familiar figure. It did a quick turn, screeching to a halt across the stone floor. TK and Patamon sidestepped as it passed. After fully stopping, Kari cut the engine and stepped off. She took off her helmet, shaking her head and wringing water out of her suit. Gatomon jumped off the back of the cycle.

"Where's my equipment?" He immediately asked. Patamon rolled his eyes. TK, the great romantic.

Kari looked up at him for a second before responding. "Back of the bike." She replied quietly. TK ran up to it, snatching it up. He immediately began putting his shirt back on, checking his gun, and making sure everything was in working order. "You alright?"

"Yeah. Though I'm worried this eye is gonna get infected." He touched the eyelid again, feeling the emptyness it now protected.

She reached into her pocket, and pulled out a black eyepatch. "Here you go. That should give it some protection until you can get back to Server." She flipped it to him.

He caught it, looking it over. "What are you doing with an eyepatch in your pocket?"

"Oh, Joe was a big fan of pirate fantasies-" TK nearly threw up all over his binoculars. "I'm kidding. I never touched Joe." TK looked at her, blushing again. He put the eyepatch on. "Volgin's the one who liked pirate fantasies." She trailed off, looking at the ground.

TK broke the awkward silence by going up to the rock wall with his knife, stabbing a snake slithering around on it. He brought it back to the charred remains of a fire, looking at it. "Ever eat a snake?"

-----------------------------------------------------------

Awhile later, they had a respectable fire going on a pile of wood. TK had placed the snake's corpse through a stick, and was attempting to cook it over it. It was unlikely to improve it's taste by much, but it was worth a try.

Meanwhile, to TK's perverse delight, Kari had removed her motorcycling suit to let it dry, and was going around the cave half naked. He tried to focus on the fire in front of him, but his eyes continued to stray back to her no matter how hard he try.

"Come on." He was insisting. "Try some of my snake." As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he blanced and had the strangest urge to stick his head in the fire. "Errr...err...that is...I mean..." he began pointing meekly at the snake he had skewered on a stick.

"I'd rather not." She said, crouching down next to him. "Can't say I like them."

"It's not about liking it. You must have learned to tolerate this kind of stuff in training, or something."

"Nah. We always got the good stuff."

"A regular Mata Hari." He knocked himself in the head with his fist as soon as he finished his sentence. Now he was flirting. "How does it feel to spy on your own country?" He finally asked, changing the subject.

She took in a deep breath. "I can't say it feels good. But it's my job."

He nodded. She ripped open a package of instant noodles and began preparing it. "How is it you get to eat the good stuff?" He said. He thought to himself. But he must have said it out loud by accident.

"What are you talking about?" She put the package down and crawled up to TK, leaning in close to him. "I haven't eaten you yet." She crawled on top of him, slowly pushing him to the ground. "I wouldn't mind that."

TK could feel his testosterone building up in his crotch again. He turned his head over to the left, where Patamon and Gatomon were sitting. Patamon was looking at TK, mouthing something that looked a little like _"fuck her"_ over and over.

For a second, he almost considered heeding the advice. But then, the high pitched voice of Mimi broke his train of thought. "Errm, Snake? Tai's in the bathroom, and he told me to tell you that if things started to get hot, to...uhhh... 'get your hemp-stained hands off my sister or i'll castrate you when you get back'. And frankly, I'd have to give my medical opinion that sex right after smoking Marajuana isn't the best ide-"

TK was filled with a sudden urge to put his gun to his ear and unload a clip in it. Of course, he didn't, as that would certainly end bad. He settled for a verbal barrage. **"I DON'T SMOKE HEMP YOU TWO-CENT WHORE-"**

He realized just then he was looking straight into Kari's eyes as he yelled. She pushed off of him, quickly, looking at him, clearly confused and hurt. He blinked, trying to think of something to say. All he could come up with was pointing at his ear. "Wasn't...Mimi...wasn't talking to..." He managed to get out lamely.

To his suprise and relief, she smiled and giggled. She pushed him back down to the floor, back on top of him in a flash. "When this mission is over, you'll have to treat me to a nice dinner. We can really catch up on old times."

TK's concentration had been broken by his outburst. He felt like he owed Kari something now. He'd play along with her, throw her a bone for all of her obvious efforts.

"What do you want to eat?"

"Oh, I dunno. We'll think about that after we get out of here." She was gazing down into his eyes now. TK could feel it coming. "TK?" His real name. A clear violation of security, and for once, TK found himself not caring at all. "Thank you, TK. You'd still have your eye if I hadn't been stupid."

"No." He corrected her. "I'd be missing both eyes if you hadn't been..." he wanted to say stupid, as that's what it was really, but compassion directed him away from being brash. "...caring." He decided.

"I'll be your eyes from now on. Thank you." She began to kiss him passionately. TK was about to let himself go, but Tai began buzzing in his ear again.

"Snake, I am ordering you to pull away, now, or else I swear to god I'll make sure you'll never be able to love a woman again."

Part of him wanted to go through with it, just to disobey Tai. Who did he think he was, anyway? He couldn't control his love life. But then, he thought of the mission. He still had alot of work to do. If the world was submerged into a war to end all worlds because he just had to get laid, well, he'd never be able to live with himself. And he probably wouldn't live much longer. He pushed her away, sitting up. She looked disappointed, gazing at his face.

"I'll be fine. I've got one good eye, and I can still fire a gun." He said dismissively.

"Really?" She looked away, visibly sad. "Good..."

Patamon was lying prone to the ground, watching bemusedly. "A regular cupid." He said sarcastically.

"Well, at least your partner isn't behaving like a whore. I wonder if TK was really talking to Mimi during that outburst. He certainly wouldn't be wrong if he wasn't."

"I dare you to go up to TK and accuse him of toking weed." Patamon said slyly. "Watch out for sudden flying bullets and knifes though."

"What will you give me if I do?" She asked, playing along.

"I dunno..." he began walking around her. "A kiss?"

"Alright." She casually walked up to TK, who was preparing himself to leave. "Hey, I heard about your mean trip. Hook me up with your dealer when we get out of this."

Unfortunately, TK had his binoculars in his hands as Gatomon taunted him. And, though strong, they were one of the objects TK had that couldn't stand up to a rage-induced twist by someone as strong as him. He twisted them, breaking them cleanly in half. His skin began to turn a purple-red hue as he looked down on the pieces. Cursing up a storm, he threw them as hard as he could through the waterfall. Kari watched as if he was a semi-interesting TV show. It took a full 15 seconds for TK to catch himself. He slowly came to a halt with his assualt on the english language. His face went a deep crimson, part fury, part humiliation. He glanced over at Gatomon, and saw Patamon giving her a kiss. If Kari wasn't there, he probably would have strangled him right then.

But he settled for putting on the last bit of equipment, and turning to Kari. The mission. Think about the mission, he told himself. Push everything else to the side. "Eva. I heard you stole some C3 out of a warehouse from Joe."

She nodded. "Old stuff, but it's just what we need for this situation." She pulled out a clay block. "With it, you should be able to blow up that hangar, and the Shagohod along with it."

"Joe explained it to me." He looked at the ground, a clouded expression coming over his face.

"Snake, I'm sorry about Joe. But he wanted it this way. He died without breaking, that means more to him than anything!"

"I failed him. I know he said he didn't even want to go now...but I failed him. I let him die. I let him suffer."

"Stop it!" She demanded suddenly. "There's nothing that can be done about him now." Her expression softened immediately as she reached into her bag again, pulling out a second block of C3. She tossed the first to TK, who caught it cautiously. She then presented him with four small buttons. "Detonators. After you plant the C3 on the liquid fuel tanks, put the detonators in the clay. Then-" she pulled out a small timer "when you set the final one, set the timer and put it on the detonator. It'll synch all the C3 to blow up at once."

"I see." He looked down at his new toys. "What should I set it to?"

"I'd say 20 minutes. Use your own judgement though." She took the second block of C3 and began molding it. TK watched. After a moment, she held it out, having molded it into a heart shape. "What do you think?"

TK paused, staring at it for a second, before turning away. "Cute." He muttered. He wasn't quite sure she could have heard him, but didn't care much. "What about that data you got from Joe?"

He could hear the impatience dripping in her tone at his non-reaction to her obvious attempts to flirt. "That's the mission I was given by Gagarin. But I haven't forgotten my other one." She walked up right behind him. "Alright. See this cave? Go down it. It's quite a ways, but you should come to a ladder that comes up in Groznyj Grad. Now, when you went to rescue Joe, remember the hallway you went through that had a window through which you could see the Shagohod?"

"Yeah."

"There was a door going into the hangar in that hallway." She handed him a keycard. "Use this keycard to get in."

"And you?"

"There's a railbridge to the north we're going to use on our escape. I'm going to rig it up with my half of the C3. We can blow it up after we cross it so we can't be followed."

"Sounds good." He slowly turned back to face her. "Eva, watch out for Ken. He suspects you're the spy." His face became clouded again. "And yet...I've been thinking lately..."

"Ken's considerably different from when you knew him. He believes in fate, that his revolver juggling show will actually kill those who should be killed, and leave those who shouldn't be unharmed. It's not just a game to him. Well, maybe it is. But he certainly seems to think it'll purge those who are 'weak' or 'lying'."

"That's the thing! Ken is a genius! A brilliant, logical person. He wouldn't start believing in fate and destiny. Fate is a word idiots used when bad things are happening and they don't want to take the blame." He looked at Kari. "And you...he took forever to catch on to you being the spy. Your cover wasn't exactly perfect. The old Ken would have figured it out in a heartbeat." He looked back at the ground. "I don't like this, Eva. I don't know if Ken hit his head on a rock or something...but I think we're not seeing the whole picture with him."

"Don't worry. Volgin trusts me. And I passed Ken's 'test' so he'll actually have to find some reason evidence to pin on me. Not happening." She smiled. "See ya." She suited up, slipped her helmet on, and jumped on her bike. Gatomon grabbed onto the back. They rocketed back through the waterfall, and then they had disappeared behind the wall of water.

"Let's move." He grabbed his half-eaten snake, and began taking large bites out of it.

"I think Kari likes the right kind of Snake just fine." Patamon began his torment of TK again immediately.

"I wonder how grilled Patamon tastes..." TK growled through gritted teeth, holding up the skewer.

"Horny Kari probably tastes better."

"I swear I need to get you...neutered or something." He threatened.

"So I can match you?"

"Oh, you think I won't do it, don't you?"

"I know you won't do it."

"Hell, I'll do it right here." A _chinkk_ sound accompanied TK pulling out his knife. "Let's see how horny you are when I'm done with you."

TK ended up chasing Patamon through the entire tunnel as they shouted insults and counter-insults at each other. When they came to the ladder, however, they silently agreed to put this aside and focus on the mission. TK ascended the rungs, Patamon floating behind him. He pushed up on the grate, sliding it to the side as he came up. He looked around. It appeared the fortress was off red alert, guards were few and far between. He quickly jumped up and hid behind a tank, nevertheless. He put his back to it, and jumped away as he felt it move. As it turned out, it was a sleeping tankmon.

He settled for taking cover behind a box, checking to be quite sure it wasn't a boxmon. From his cover, he saw a truck drive over to his area, it's wheel stopping right on top of the sewer he had just crawled up in. He groaned.

"No turning back now, buddy."

"I wouldn't have it any other way."


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18: The Digital Legacy

TK and Patamon hugged the shadows, moving slowly towards the weapons lab. There were still guards to be avoided on the way. TK itched to just blow them all away, but for now, disgression would be the better part of valor.

"Patamon, you running hot?" A expression they used asking whether or not Patamon was full on energy and capable of going to mega if needed.

"Of course."

"Good. We might need it." He ran out, squating, from his cover to behind a wall. Patamon followed. TK had decided that it was best to keep him out of the backpack now, so he could instantly take up a fight if he so needed. They creeped around the wall, coming up to the door to the weapons lab. "Going scientist." His suit morphed into that of a scientist.

"A one eyed scientist? Good luck." He flew into his backpack, sealing the flap.

"Hopefully they won't be looking too hard." He walked in, trying to appear as innocent as possible. He moved casually through the hallway, up the staircase, to the left, through the main hallway. He glanced around quickly to make sure nobody was around, then stepped into the hangar.

It was all the more awe inspiring this close up. The Shagohod towered up to the ceiling of the hangar and stretched from one end of it to the other. His brain couldn't calculate a estimation of how big it was in terms of yards or feet, so he settled for really fucking big. It's gigantic treads ran along the side of the bottoms of it on either side, and dozens of orifices, no doubt to unleash it's terrible weapons from hell, were visible all over.

After he managed to take in the magnitude of it, he began to slowly walk toward a set of stairs. He could see the first tank of fuel just at the bottom. To his dismay, he appeared to be the only scientist in the room. They must have all evacuated as the Shagohod was really to go. The room, however, was populated by several guards, who would no doubt be curious why a scientist was still in the room.

Well, he'd tackle that when they got to it. He walked up to the first tank, glanced around to make sure nobody was watching, and slammed a hunk of C3 home on it. He stuck the first detonator into the clay. Trying to look as if he was checking the tanks for last second possible problems, he moved on.

"Hey!" Dammit. "What are you doing here?" A guard ran up to him, AK at the ready.

"Checking on the fuel one last time." He muttered.

"I wasn't informed of such a check. I need to call this in." He reached for his mini-radio.

TK lept at the man, grabbing his head and rotating it around 360 degrees. It snapped well before the rotation was complete, of course, but he felt it made for a nicer display. The corpse fell to the ground, the radio still clutched in his rigor mortis grip.

Naturally, a trio of nearby guards on the above level spotted this, and made for their own weapons. TK had hoped for quiet as he armed the bombs, but it was not to be. Patamon burst out the backpack, zooming towards the one to the right. TK pulled out his .45, still mostly silenced by the degenerating silencer, and spit hot led into the skulls of the other two. Patamon snapped the third guard's neck cleanly.

TK stood in a ready position, anticipating further forces to come along soon. But nothing came. TK floated back down into the backpack. "Go up to the ceiling, keep a lookout." TK instructed. The calm before the storm, or so it seemed. He ran off quickly to the second tank of fuel, slamming the clay and detonator in the side. A guard had come across his carnage back around the first tank, and was swinging around wildly with is AK out, grabbing at his radio.

But it wasn't there. He swung around and was greeted by his radio slamming into his forehead hard. Patamon had come down to snatch it, and took the opportunity to knock the guard out cold. But it wasn't over yet. TK sprinted to the 3rd tank, knowing that when the guards didn't check in, the situation would be investigated. He plastered it with the clay and stuck the detonator. He began to look around quickly, trying to find the final one.

There it was, behind another set of stairs. He heard the door into the hangar slide open, and footsteps with it. They were here. Patamon floated down next to his head. "Shall I?"

"No. Save your energy. We can get out another way." He slid down next to the tank, slamming the clay down, inserting the detonator, and then setting the timer on top of it. He didn't have time to judge the situation, so he set it for 20 minutes. He hit the little green 'go' button, and the countdown began. He turned around, his eyes settling on a ajar hangar door. He took off, mentally going through his checklist. "Save Joe...aborted. Destroy Shagohod...in process. Kill Sora...Kill Volgin..."

"TAKERU!" Bellowed what was unmistakably Volgin's voice from the foot of the Shagohod. He turned his head, momentarily confused by the use of his real name. To his horror, he saw Volgin and Ken standing next to Kari, who was lying on the ground, apperantly unconscious. Gatomon lay next to her, and Wormmon was at Ken's feet, looking depressed. He began moving towards the group, his gun out, but his legs were kicked out from under him. As he fell backwards, he glimpsed Sora ripping the gun from his hands and tossing it to the side.

TK jumped up, adrenaline coursing through his veins. All he needed was one split second...one shot, and he'd do it. He moved in, punching in quick jabs. They were all sidestepped, the third one grabbed by Sora. She flipped him over his shoulder, crashing him hard down on the concrete floor. He spun up, immediately moving back in. He tried to kick her, but his foot was simply grabbed and flipped up over his head. He landed brilliantly on his back.

"Why'd you come back?" Sora hissed at him as she grabbed his collar and dragged him over to the foot of the Shagohod. He glanced behind him, seeing Patamon get similar treatment by a group of guards accompanied by Biyomon. He groaned.

Volgin motioned to Kari as TK was pushed up in front of him. "She was found snooping around my underground vault. And look what we found on her." He pulled out a small square, it looked to be a bit of microfilm. "The Digital Legacy."

Audible gasps flew around the room as every eye in the room fell on the film.

"At least, in a sense. This film contains a record where every penny of the 100 billion dollars of the legacy is stored."

A dramatic pause. "It was the smell that gave her away." Ken began, looking at TK, as if he had just solved some math problem thought well beyond his years. "The perfume...and gasoline. Motorcycle gasoline. She reeked of it."

Volgin turned to her, she was beginning to stir. "To think that she was a spy." He held up a mini radio. "We found this with her as well." A jolt of electricity overloaded it, causing it to explode. He threw the charred remains to the side. "Such a fine woman. It's a shame I have to kill her. Yes, an obedient one. My precious little pet." He kicked her stomach as she started to get up, sending her back down to the floor. TK made a unconscious move towards her, but Ken pointed a revolver up at him, shaking his finger. Kari groaned something, inaudible. "What was that? Do you have something to say to me?"

"Go to hell." She managed, pulling a tube of lipstick from her pocket and trying to aim it up at his face. It never made it, he grabbed her wrist before it could line up.

"You dirty whore!" He squeezed her hand until she was forced to drop her weapon. "I've had enough from you." He dropped her arm, kicking her again. She fell back to the ground, clutching her stomach. "I should have known. Kido wasn't man enough to have a woman like you."

In the back of TK's brain, he was counting the minutes since he had set off the timer. He estimated he had about 17 minutes until the explosion. He seriously doubted he could escape...but if he could keep Volgin and Sora inside the hangar for 17 minutes and managed to keep the nature of him being in the hangar secret, the explosion should kill them both. He might die, but his mission would be a success in the very least. He had to keep them talking. Not give them a chance to think.

"Granin told me about the legacy, his story didn't line up with yours." He finally managed.

"Yes. I have spread many different stories about what exactly the legacy was, none of them true. I thought it best to keep the true nature of it hidden, to help keep the legacy itself hidden. But I suppose it wouldn't hurt to explain it before I kill you. You've earned that much. During the great world war ten years ago, the most powerful men in Server, Buffet and File Island formed a secret pact. A blueprint for defeating the Axis Powers, Jagger, Harrison and Duca and creating a new world order. The three countries pooled resources to conduct covert operations and research. DNAT, nuclear weapons, all of these were developed and progressed on in these projects. A massive amount of money was put together to fund these projects. Enough to fight five world wars if needed. That massive wealth is the digital legacy. After the war was won, the money was to be divided between Server, Buffet and File Island. With this money, they were able to steal away the best scientific minds from everywhere else, Kido being one of them. However, my father was one of the men in charge of managing the legacy. After the war, in the confusion, he laundered the money through banks all through the digital world, to ensure the legacy would come under total control of Buffet. This microfilm has a record of all those transactions. My father died not long after, however, and I came into possession of the film. With this money, I've built Groznyj Grad and Granin's research facility. But Granin failed to produce results, he had nothing but pipe dreams about bipedal tanks. So I stole Kido and his project, the Shagohod, from Gagarin. The spy network created by the secret pact still existed, so I used to to contact Sora to suggest she defect. She saw things my way. The world had been torn in two by this secret pact, and needed to be made whole again. Which is what I will do with the legacy. To do this, we'd need an unstoppable trump card that could bring order to the world. That trump card was the Shagohod, and the digidestined who came with Sora. I lost the digidestined sans Sora, but I have the legacy and the Shagohod. And now, there is nothing anyone can do to stop us!" He held out the film to Sora. "Take this somewhere safe, please." She slowly approached it, her fingers slowly grasping around it. Volgin held on tight, not wanting to let it go subconsciously, but finally allowing her to take it.

"They wouldn't have come back in here unless they had a reason." Sora finally said, looking at TK and Patamon. "The C3's been stolen, he must be planning a sabatoge of some sort." Dammit, 8 minutes still left until the explosion. "I'll go check around." She walked up to Kari and picked her up. "And i'll dispose of her too."

"Alright then." Volgin looked at TK and Patamon. "Let's make this one a battle for the ages." He looked over at Ken, who was backing away. "You will stand there and watch. Understand?"

"But...but-" He was fingering his revolver, eager to take revenge for all the humiliation to this point.

"Understand?"

"Fine." He said dejectedly, backing away from the area where the fight would no doubt raise much hell. Volgin hit a control panel with a bolt of electricity, sending the platform they stood on down into the ground about 10 feet. Volgin removed his gloves.

"I'm going to enjoy this." He burned off his clothes, exposing what appeared to be a metallic body. TK wondered if this man was actually a robot, but then saw some flesh. He appeared to have gone through alot of DNAT modifications over the years.

Ken walked up to the edge of the arena, holding TK's gun and knife. He looked down at TK before tossing it down at him. He grabbed them, taking up his fighting stance. Patamon fluttered down next to him, ready to fight.

"Take all the equipment and help you'd like. You'll never beat me." Volgin growled. "You're mine, digidestined!" He roared, electricity crackling all over his body.

And then, with a surge of electricity and a speeding bullet, the fight began.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19: A weapon from hell

TK managed to shoot a series of bullets into the bolt, disappating it as it was attracted to the metal. A quick glance around told him there would be no cover. This was a battle of pure strength and firepower.

Patamon was Warp Digivolving. TK quickly held out two fingers, indicating that he should only go to ultimate. He had a gut feeling that his mega form would be needed later.

Electricity was jumping all over Volgin's body as he began shooting further blows at TK. He continued to hold them off by shooting rapidly at them, but was relieved when Magnaangemon moved into the take the blows.

"Magnaangemon!" He yelled. "No use in fooling around, just give him everything you've got as hard as you can!"

Following these instructions, Magnaangemon crashed in on Volgin, beating him repeatedly with his sword. Volgin had a electric barrier around him, causing these blows to fail at getting through him and cause him any harm. But even he had a limit on the amount of electricity he could draw. After awhile of Magnaangemon pummeling his shield, it flickered and died. MagnaAngemon had taken quite a bit of a shock from Volgin, but it was well worth it. He stabbed at Volgin with his sword while TK slid to the right, shooting the momentarily unguarded madman.

After taking some punishment, Volgin put his hand up to a section of the wall, and his shield was restored. TK caught on quickly. There were several electrical energy sources in the wall Volgin could use to recharge himself.

"MagnaAngemon! Keep beating up on him!" He ran up to one of the power sources, trying to find the most efficent way to destroy it.

"Oh no you don't!" Volgin cried, trying to send a bolt at TK. But it died on Magnaangemon's wing, jumping in front of the blast. This time, Magnaangemon began to pummel the shield with his shield and sword at once. It proved effective. Meanwhile, TK had found a clump of wires behind the power source and ripped the cords from their sockets. Hoping that would cut the power, he began moving to the next one. Upon reaching the last one, Volgin hit him with a electrical bolt in the back, causing him to fall to his knees, screaming at the unexpected attack. The bolt had snaked through his legs and onto his crotch. As tough as TK was, he was still a man.

"I don't think so!" Volgin roared, diving away from Magnaangemon's blade and grabbing the last power source. His shield flickered to life and he began frying TK, but it was a shortlived last effort. Magnaangemon crashed hard into Volgin, knocking him against the wall. His shield couldn't contain the rough physical attack. After several pummeling blows, he felt the last bit of his electrical shield die away. Magnaangemon took the opportunity to throw Volgin to the oppisite wall, where he lay crumpled in a heap.

A pause. TK got up slowly, holding out his gun. Should he finish the job? Volgin lifted his head up to look up at Ken. He was standing above, watching with his arms folded across his chest.

"Shoot him!" Volgin roared. Ken didn't budge. "I said shoot him!"

Slowly, the single syllable left Ken's mouth. "No."

TK looked up at Ken, confused. Given his sharpshooting abilities, he had a good chance to draw and shoot TK before Magnaangemon could do anything, especially with him being as tired as he was. And it was likely Ken could shoot him through the skull, instantly killing him before he could hope his suit could heal him. And then Wormmon could digivolve up to his own ultimate level and defeat the tired Magnaangemon. It wouldn't really be that hard. And yet, here he was...

"Sorry Colonel, I'm afraid I can't do that."

"What the hell do you mean?" Volgin roared up at him.

"I made a promise to Sora."

"To hell with Sora! I am your commanding officer!" He screamed, using the last dregs of his electrical charges to fire off a series of bolts at Ken. Ken whipped out his revolver, firing quickly while using his other hand to quickly click the hammer back inbetween every shot. The electricity died away, zapping the bullets. They fell to the ground, sizzling.

"Are you...questioning my authority?!"

Ken ignored him, walking slowly around the arena. "Fight like a man, Volgin." He growled.

"Emergency! Explosives have been detected! Evacuate immediately!" Came a voice through speakers. It repeated the message over and over. TK was still counting in the back of his head. 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

"Ken!" Volgin yelled. "Find those bombs!"

Ken stopped walking, and stood on the spot, looking down on the trio. TK and Magnaangemon were still watching Ken, feeling he could represent a greater threat than Volgin right now.

"Move it!"

Ken finally started slowly walking away. Before disappearing over the lip of the arena, he turned to TK. He gave him a strange gesture with his right hand, a cross between a salute and a wave, and then...he could have sworn he winked. Maybe just his imagination, electricity coursing through your body can do things like that. He turned and walking away, almost casually.

"Alright, Takeru. Let's finish t-" He never got to finish, because at that moment Magnaangemon crashed into Volgin's gut hard, slamming him into the wall. A large indentation was made where the crash occured. Magnaangemon was about to deliver a killing blow, but TK interupted him.

"No! Let's go. Let the bombs get him, we gotta get out of here." He jumped on the ladder, crawling up as fast as he could. Magnaangemon gave Volgin one last look before de-digivolving and flying away after TK.

TK began a mad dash for the ajar hangar door. Around him, guards were running pell-mell towards the various exits the hangar presented, pushing over each other and tripping as they tried to escape. TK continued to count in his head. Two minutes and counting now.

Then he thought of his escape plan. With Kari dead, what now? Perhaps he could steal a motorcycle and go up to the lake. But he didn't know how to pilot a WIG...but trying to learn on the fly would be better than just waiting here to die. He broke through the crack in the door out into the sunlight, where the entire base was bustling with the activity of men trying to get far away from the hangar. Having no idea how big the bomb was, they assumed the worst and tried to get out of Groznyj Grad altogether.

TK looked around after getting a distance outside, knowing nobody would care to try and kill him now that they were concerned about saving their own hides. No motorcycle...where would Kari have kept hers.

"Patamon." He panted. "Any ideas?"

"Yeah. Let's eat." He groaned.

He looked back on his partner, grimacing. "Later. If there is one. We need a way out of here...a motorcycle..."

As if on cue, a motorcycle with a sidecar attachment squealed to a halt next to him. He jumped at the sight of Gatomon on the back. The rider took off her helmet, revealing herself to be Kari.

"Eva! But...but Sora..."

She took a second to answer. "She let me go." She said simply.

"Why?"

"I'll tell you later, hop in!" TK complied, sitting in the cramped sidecar as they sped away.

"We can't leave yet, I still have to-"

"Sora's waiting for you at the lake." Kari yelled over the engine of the cycle.

"What?!"

"Waiting to fight you." She looked down at the ground. She slowed the motorcycle to a halt, taking off her helmet to look at TK in the eye. TK quickly glanced at the hangar, seeing it was a good distance away before he'd allow this. "Snake, I...I don't want you to fight her. But I've come to realize the special relationship you two have. I can't understand it...but it goes deeper than a man and a woman. I can't understand it. She asked me to tell you something."

"What?"

"I've never seen someone with such clear eyes."

As soon as she finished the sentence, the hangar blew. Fires emerged from the openings to the outside, and the ceiling began to cave in. More small explosions followed, as the hangar slowly came to nothingness. It would take awhile, they'd be long gone, but it would happen.

"Alright, let's go!" TK yelled.

Then, the hangar began to shake. They looked back at it, not wanting to believe what they were seeing. The Shagohod was literally using it's treads to crawl out of the burning hangar's ceiling. It burst through and over, landing with a thud on the ground. "Takeru! It's not over yet!" Volgin's voice called out from inside it. Somehow, he and the weapon from hell had survived.

"Son of a BITCH!" Kari yelled before gunning the engine. It began pursuit, it's treads now rolling along, pushing it after them.

She tried weaving through warehouses and buildings, but the Shagohod merely walked over any would be obstruction. Patamon flew away and managed to bring back a bazooka from an armory, but it's missiles had no effect on the Shagohod.

"I can't even dent it!" TK yelled to Kari.

"I know! We'll go over the railbridge!"

"What're you planning?"

"We'll go over the bridge, and set off the C3 as he's crossing it!" She yelled, gunning the engine towards the bridge on the other side of the fortress. "We gotta go across the runway, hold on tight!"

TK nodded, grabbing on. The Shagohod was in hot pursuit, speeding up by the second. The bike, while good, certainly couldn't move 300 miles an hour. TK only hoped they could reach the bridge before the Shagohod had time to reach full speed.

A pair of bullets pocked the ground in front of them as they rode off towards the runway. TK looked up to see Ken, a revolver with a aiming module attached aimed at the motorcycle. He took a third shot, missing again. Kari turned the bike away from Ken, riding away from him. Cursing, he jumped on a motorcycle of his own, gunning it. Wormmon grabbed onto the back, still looking dejected. "If you don't want to be punished, try not being worthless!" He yelled back at him as he gunned the engine.

He caught up with them quickly, ramming them with his bike. Kari whipped out her Chinese Mauser, getting off a shot that knocked Ken off balance. He fell back, but soon caught up. He knocked the Mauser out of her hand with his revolver. He took aim, but Gatomon knocked it away.

Grunting, he tried to punch TK, but missed as Kari swerved away. He nearly fell off but managed to maintain his grip with his legs. They rode through the burning hangar, the ceiling continuing to fall in as they blew through it. Ken was still trying to punch TK and didn't notice a metal beam swinging down, about to smack him in the face. Acting on a strange instinct, TK pulled out his .45 and shot the beam three times, knocking it just off course.

At the realization of a beam about to smash his head, caused by the gunfire, Ken screeched to a halt. He looked up at the beam, then back at the motorcycle speeding away. TK watched him spit, then jump back on, revving the engine.

"What was that?!" Kari yelled.

"No clue. But I trust my gut." TK hollered back.

They emerged from the hangar, tearing down the runway. After a minute, the Shagohod followed, destroying the hangar as it rolled. The high speed chase was on. Patamon was trying to eat out of TK's backpack, knowing he didn't have the energy to fight a fight that seemed inevitable. Gatomon followed his example.

Slowly, the tank caught up with them. TK was blowing away motorcycles carrying guards chasing them, knowing it was utterly useless to try and shoot the Shagohod. Volgin began to activate the rocket booster, rapidly increasing the speed of the tank, eventually to 300 miles an hour.

Ken was closing in on the chase, just behind the Shagohod. Unfortunately for him, he rode just behind the booster as it was activated, and he caught quite a bit of burning liquid fuel in the face. He squealed to a halt, coughing and choking. He looked up at the chase ahead. "SON OF A BITCH!" He yelled ahead to them, knowing full well they couldn't hear him.

They were close to a wall at the end of the runway. The Shagohod was now moving much faster than them. TK thought they were goners when Kari swerved the bike to face the railbridge. She zoomed across it, checking behind her. The Shagohod had crashed into the wall headon. For a second, it looked as if it might have done some damage. But in merely moved in reverse and rotated to face the bridge.

They quickly stopped at the other side, Kari jumping off and running to an angle next to the bridge. She pointed to a middle strut as TK followed her. "There's where I put the C3. I set it to go off about 5 minutes from now, so you'll have to shoot it as he's over it."

"You've got to be kidding me." He grunted, pulling out his .45 and taking careful aim. Years of training came down to this ridiculous try at marksmanship. He watched the Shagohod...crossing the bridge...almost to the center...he squeezed off his entire clip. The third bullet clipped the C3, causing it to erupt in flames, but he had decided mentally to fire off the whole clip, and so he did. The bridge collapsed in on itself, taking the Shagohod down with it into the river. The concrete and metal of the bridge fell like rain into the river below, the Shagohod creating the biggest splash of all as it slowly sunk.

"We did it!" TK yelled triumphantly. He saw Ken, screeching to a halt just in time to avoid riding off the edge. He looked across the ravine, his eyes glaring with hatred.

Suddenly, the Shagohod broke the water surface and began climbing back up to land on the large broken piece of bridge that acted as a crude ramp. TK looked over the edge, not believing his eyes. "Shit." Was all he could manage as the tank came up to his level.

"I'm not finished yet!" Volgin roared. TK and Kari jumped back in the motorcycle. She began riding around the area while TK yelled instructions.

"Patamon, Gatomon, go mega and distract Volgin! Try and hit the treads! We're gonna ride around it until I find a weakpoint!"

The two complied, Patamon digivolving up to Seraphimon and Gatomon to Magnadramon. They took to the skies, converging on the Shagohod. Machine guns began to fire from the Shagohod at these new intruders. And that wasn't all. Attacks TK was quite familiar with from megas he had encountered, Giga Cannon, Puppet Pummel, Tera Force...they all flew from the Shagohod. He felt overcome with awe at this terrible weapon. Kari began to ride around it, TK looking for some way to defeat it.

Seraphimon and Magnadramon attacked the treads, keeping it from moving for a short time until they repaired themselves, during which TK examined the tank. Finally, he thought he had it. The ventilation grate. If he could get a bullet through there, perhaps he'd hit a wire. He began firing off in it's general direction.

He must have gotten Volgin's attention, for he began to try and keep the motorcycle in front of him. He was unleashing his hell on them now, brilliant driving by Kari the only thing keeping them alive. But the two megas managed to keep the treads under a constant barrage, freezing the tank and allowing TK more shots at the grate. It took awhile, and it it took a toll on all of them, but after about 4 clips into the grate, the Shagohod stopped moving and firing. The motorcycle braked at Kari's command.

"Is it over?" She dared to ask.

"No." TK replied back.

Volgin burst from the top of the tank, rage contorting his features. He punched down into the armor of the Shagohod, emerging holding several wires. His electrical charges began to power the machine.

"Let's see how you take this." He growled, urging the machine towards them. It sped off at them.

"I know you're tired, but I just need one good shot!" He yelled up at the two megas. They nodded and moved in on Volgin, taking a punishing barrage of attacks to get in on him. He had his electrical shield up again, much stronger than it had been during his fight with TK. It seemed as if the rage enhanced his powers, giving him new life. But even he could not stand up to two megas. Just when it seemed as if he might win, the shield broke. The two megas parted from him, exposing him to TK. "NOW!" They both yelled.

TK got off a shot from the speeding motorcycle. And it was as he said. He only needed the one. It sped right into his skull, tearing up brain tissue on it's way through, exiting at the back. Volgin fell backwards, groaning in pain.

They thought they had won. They stopped the bike, slowly getting out and moving toward the tank, but then, Volgin growled. Slowly, he pushed himself up. TK couldn't believe it. Even without part of his brain...he continued. Would this fight have any end.

"Takeru!" He roared. "TAKERU!" Panting with the pain of it all, he stood up. It began to rain...no, pour...out of nowhere. "I refuse to die without taking you with me."

Suddenly, out of the skies, a single bolt of lightning ripped down from the heavens, striking Volgin dead center. The electricity overloaded his body, not used to such power. He began to emit several popping sounds, as if he was a big collection of circuits being overloaded. The Shagohod began to emit pops as well, and finally blew up in a brilliant blast of orange fire. Volgin stood in this fire, still popping, until he fell back, going into Rigor Mortis.

"Fried by a bolt of lightning...a fitting end." TK muttered. He and Kari hugged as the Shagohod continued to burn. But they weren't out of the woods yet. Motorcycles began to speed towards them. Either they had found a way across the ravine without the bridge or were on the other side of the bridge to begin with. Either way, they weren't about to let the death of their leader stop them from trying to get these spies.

Patamon and Gatomon fell into their master's laps, dead tired, and they jumped back in the motorcycle. "Lake's not far ahead! Let's go!" She gunned the engine, zooming into the forest ahead.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20: Why

TK was constantly rotating around in his sidecar, popping guards wherever they showed up with his pistol. Kari focused on the driving, tearing through the forest towards the lake. Patamon and Salamon lay in the bottom of the sidecar, dead tired but stable.

Occasionally, a bullet found it's mark in them, hitting the motorcycle or one of them. TK's suit proved it's worth, but Kari didn't have such advantages. She began to show signs of weakening as the ride neared it's end. But she was resilent and kept driving. Trees and plants zoomed by, mere blurs thanks to their great speed. Slowly, the forces stopped coming, and they appeared to be in the clear.

"Looks like they gave up."

"Shit! We're leaking fuel!" Kari yelled, pointing at the tank, which was emitting a small stream of fuel from a bullethole.

She looked back at it, trying to see if there was any way to patch it up, but this attempt had it's cost. Specifically, she wasn't able to watch the road ahead of her, and crashed into a log. The cycle flipped, all of it's riders scattered to the ground as it flew through the air deeper into the forest.

TK hit the dirt ground hard, kicking up dust with the impact of his landing. He felt around his body, feeling everything was in working order, then slowly sat up. He walked over to Patamon and Salamon, still out of it a bit, lying on the ground nearby. Kari, however, wasn't around. "Kari?"

"I'm over here." She managed from behind a tree. TK walked around it, wincing at what he saw. A sharp tree branch from a log had gone right through the right side of her abdomen. She sat against the log, blood beginning to drip from the wound. She wasn't looking at it, preferring to stare ahead into the forest.

"How's it look Snake?"

"Pretty bad." TK pronounced.

"You alright?" She groaned, coughing up blood.

"Yeah." He looked up, his ears picking up the sounds of foot soldiers coming his way. "The guards are still coming, we've got to-"

"No. Leave me. Go on ahead. Just give me a gun, i'll be fine."

"We're getting you out of here." TK stated simply, bending down to check the injury.

"Sora's waiting for you, you have to go on. We're still a distance from the lake, I won't make it." She coughed up more blood. TK recognized she couldn't lose blood at this rate much longer.

"I can't believe this. I never thought I'd see you act this weak." He growled. "We're doing this together."

"But...Snake-" TK thought he had almost heard his real name leave her lips, but she had caught herself.

"I need you." TK began, taking her hand in his.

She blinked, wincing from the recurring pain. "Say that one more time."

"I need you. I can't pilot the WIG."

She laughed, beating herself mentally for believing TK would actually begin to respond to her obvious flirting at a time like this. "Alright, I guess you do need me."

TK pulled her slowly, as straight as he could, off the sharp branch. As soon as she was free of it, she grabbed the large wound, trying to put pressure on it so to stop bleeding. Then, she fell over. TK checked her quickly. Apperantly, she had just fainted.

"Paramedic!" He called into his radio. "Eva's been hurt...bad...and she doesn't have one of these suits on. Damn frugal BAF doesn't give two shits about-"

"Calm down, Snake. Reach down your suit into the chest area, until you find an inside pocket. Inside the pocket should be a square cloth. It's the same stuff your suit's made out of." A pause as he complied, whipping out a square cloth as she said. "Put it on her abdomen, I can work it from here...but wait. Snake, that suit runs off a limited power supply, and the cloth runs off the same source. I'm not totally sure there's enough for both of you, we've nearly drained it with all those times you got shot on the bike...you got some injuries from the crash as well, so I'm afraid your wounds have to come first in this situation."

TK didn't quite know what to say. He thought for a moment.

"Snake, did you hear me?"

"Yeah, I know what I have to do."

"Snake?"

"Like this." He put pressure on two specific spots on the back of his neck, killing his radio, then he reached inside his suit and disconnected several small wires that connected the suit to his person. He placed the cloth on Kari, waiting.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

"What the hell is he doing?" Tai asked impatiently, watching the vital signs screen go blank.

"He's...disconnected his suit from his body. He's disconnected a series of wires that distribute the healing abilities of the suit. I can't heal him until he reconnects."

"Shit." He leaned into the radio. "Snake? Snake? Are you there?" Nothing. Not even static. Just nothing. "Dammit, he must have been captured and stripped."

"No. The suit's still on, it's just not connected. And he's killed his codec. Those two things can't happen by accident either...I...I think he must have done it."

"What does he think this is, a game?!"

"I think he wants me to heal Kari first." She said slowly, afraid of the backlash from Tai.

"Oh god, he's fallen for her! I knew this would happen...he was such a good soldier...is there gonna be enough for both of them?"

"I won't know until I try it."

Tai looked down at the floor, grimacing. "Fine. Do it."

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TK paced around Kari's body, watching the cloth do it's thing, slowly healing the wound in Kari's stomach as if magic. He had his .45 and revolver drawn, ready if anyone dared come close enough to try and take them on. They were coming closer, he could hear them move through the bushes of the forest.

Then, Kari stood up, grabbing her stomach. She wasn't exactly 100, but she could walk now. She grasped at the cloth, wondering how her severe injury had been cured so fast. "Snake...what happened?" She managed quitely.

"Call me a magic man." He grunted, looking up at the hill where soldiers were seconds away from appearing over. He pressured the back of his neck again, reawakening the radio, and quickly reconnected his suit.

"He's back on." He heard Mimi said in a whisper. He waited for the hammer to fall.

"Snake, I've granted you headway far beyond what I'd grant anyone else in terms of violating standard rules, but cutting your radio transmission and suit out of pure spite is a whole different lev-"

"Eva can walk now. I'm going to escort her to the WIG on the lake." TK interupted, ignoring Tai's outburst. "You can heal my injuries on the fly, Paramedic, I've got to get moving. They're coming."

"Alright, please try and not get hurt, I don't know how much longer this power supply can last."

He began slowly moving, Kari limping behind him, still clutching her side. Patamon and Salamon jumped up into TK's backpack, taking refuge. It was all on TK now. No stealth, no help, just him and his guns.

The guards began coming up over the hill, and TK was ready. He fired up in their general direction repeatedly, clipping them in various places, sending them to the ground hard where they stood. Kari stayed right by him, taking cover when it was possible. They had numbers, but TK wasn't about to die now. He had too much to live for now. He had to protect Kari, and he had to meet Sora for the last time. No generic guard would beat him now.

They came to a rocky area, where TK had to push Kari up several mini cliffs, and have Kari pull him up after. The strain was showing. Tai hadn't said a word since TK stopped him mid-rant, respecting his concentration on getting to the lake. But he already had a series of potential punishments in mind.

They ran into some camoflagued soldiers on their way through the final area, which TK used infared screens to see and shoot. He was a man possessed, moving systematically through the forest, shooting anything that moved. Kari felt so useless, too injured to help, following like a dog. But she could almost see the...protective nature in TK's defense of her, full of emotion. She was sure it wasn't just for the purpose of having someone to pilot the WIG. No, he was protecting her, as a knight might protect a princess. It was a nice thought, but her fantasy was constantly cut into by bullet fire.

They were in the clear now. The guards had stopped coming. The lake shimmered in front of them, looking as beautiful as anything either of them had ever seen. Kari began walking faster towards the WIG, beached right next to the lake. "Come on, we made it!" She cried.

For a brief moment, TK thought it was over. But then, he remembered. He could feel her. She was here, waiting. "I can't." He could feel the weight in his heart, building up. He knew this was going to happen, but not that it was here...he wasn't entirely sure he could do it.

Kari nodded, understanding. "I'll get the WIG ready." She walked up.

"Wait." TK took off his backpack and tossed it to her. She grabbed it, feeling the various pieces of equipment inside. "Take them too. And all the equipment. I won't need it." He turned slowly to face what appeared to be a ordinary field of grass.

Patamon poked his head out of the backpack. "No way you're doing this without me." He managed, still obviously dead tired from fighting the Shagohod.

"No. You go too. This is between me and Sora. Nobody else." He began walking forward into the field. Kari slowly turned and began walking towards the WIG, the fact that either Sora or TK would not walk away from this fight weighing down hard on her.

TK blinked as he walked, and the field immediately transformed before his eyes into one of white flowers growing up to his waist. Then, a distant explosion. A nuclear blast. The shockwaves pushed out from the distance, knocking TK to his knees. He threw his hands up to his face, knowing what came next...

...and then, the explosion and all of it's aftereffects ceased to be. He looked around, trying to work out some logical explanation.

"Life's end..." began a voice he had been expecting. He jumped to his feet, turning around quickly. Sora stood there, holding out the launcher for the miniature nuclear missiles. She tossed it to the ground. She wore her black cloak, covering her entire body. "Almost tragic, but beautiful. When life ends, it gives off a final lingering aroma. Light is but a fairwell gift from the darkness to those on their way to die." She glanced down at the flowers around them, slowly turning her neck from left to right. "I've been waiting, Takeru. For a long time. For your growth into the man you've become, which I've had a hand in. And now, I suppose, the finality today will bring."

TK tried to find something to say. He settled on a single simple syllable. "Why?" He choked out.

"To make this world one again. It once was, when we found it. It wasn't perfect, but at least it was one. But thanks to the influence of humans and world wars, and the men who formed the digital legacy fighting amongst themselves, it's been torn apart. The digidestined were torn apart as well. Politics and time can change friends into enemies as easily as the wind blows. Ridiculous, isn't it? And this cold war? Remember the World Wars when we fought togeter, Server and Buffet were allies. Now, they are enemies. Imagine what they will be in 10 years? 20? 50? Who knows? And we soldiers are forced to play along. I helped you become the man you are today, I didn't do that we could face each other in battle one day. Our skills aren't supposed to be used to hurt friends. So what is an enemy? Is there even such a thing as an absolute enemy? There is no such thing, and there never will be. Why? Our enemies are human beings, just like us. This is why the world has to be made whole again. Those who assembled the legacy must be reunited under a single goal. I will devote my skills, and the Colonel's money, to this purpose. Just as we once conquered this world two times over to bring order to it, together. The digidestined...they are like siblings and children to me. I may no longer be able to bear children, but I still have a family."

She looked off into the sky. TK stood, motionless, deciding mentally to let her finish her speech out of respect. He was, after all, about to fight to the death with her.

"Over a decade ago, I was in the desert on Server participating in the first type of DNAT testing. What I saw come out of those tests froze my blood white. You were one of the test subjects. Subtle DNAT modifications that aren't blatantly visible, but increased your endurance, strength, and other such abilities a soldier desired. That's part of the reason I was drawn to you and why we always seemed to be together on the battlefield. We're alike. Both slowly being eaten away by the karma of others. We won't die peacefully of old age. We have no tomorrow. All we can do is hope for the future."

TK recalled these facts in his head, nodding slowly as he heard them told back to him.

"Six years ago, Buffet began a race that would never end. The space race. Just as it did on earth. They sent up a manmade satellite up into orbit around this planet, getting the first shots of this world from above, as well as the space outside of it. It was a big deal, as the technology needed for such projects was considerably different from the ones needed from earth. Server began to throw everything they had into space projects of their own. Buffet had a head start, and was poised to begin sending humans into digital space. So, Server decided to secretly send up a human to get human data. They chose me. At the time, they didn't have all the proper shielding to protect me from the various rays I would be exposed to. That's why I was chosen, the early DNAT projects already irradiated me. It's still all a secret of course. From up there, I saw the world as I wanted to see it. No east, west, cold war...just the planet, as one. It is ironic that the countries of the world are locked in a battle to try and get into space...and arrived to the same conclusion. That they are just a speck in the grand scheme of all things. There is no Server, Buffet, File Island...just a world."

If he hadn't already mentally decided to hear her out, he would have growled something sarcastic about a history lesson.

"Four years ago, I was sent to a small island just off Lanaross. We were supposed to invade the country and take exiles back to their country. But our weak-kneed president backed out at the last second, holding back air support. The government betrayed them. All I could do was watch as the dictator government executed the exiles. I was set up by the country I'd given up so much for. Two years ago, I was ordered to assassinate Matt. I had loved him in secret for over a decade. But one of us had to die. I had to do it. Matt gave his life for me. There is no enmity between us. One must live and the other must die. The men who assembled the legacy handed down that mission to me. When the world was first invaded by humans, boundaries created and governments established, an early pact was created. The holders of power in Server, Buffet, and File Island gathered in a secret meeting. It would later be known as the 'Wiseman's' Committee. These were the group Volgin spoke of. But in these last fifteen years, these so called 'Wisemen' have died, been killed, or been corrupted. The organization is out of control and they've become a mere shell of what they once were. Today's wisemen have no sense of good or evil. They have influence in countries and organizations involved in every aspect of every war. In a sense, they've become war itself. War causes a shift in the times. These shifts trigger the next war. Each war will spark another, a neverending cycle."

Her eyes began to well with tears, meeting TK's own eye. "My father explained all of this to me. He was intensely interested in the digital world when it was laid open to the real world, and ended up becoming one of the original wisemen. But the cost of explaining all of this to me was his life, killed by that shapeless organization. The wisemen have taken more from me as well..."

Slowly, she pulled off the black cloak. Her white battle suit lay under it. She pulled up the shirt, exposing her stomach. A scar across it.

"Proof that I was once a mother. But the Wisemen took him from me the moment he was born. They believed if I had a child I would become a lesser soldier. Matt was the father. I don't even know what's become of the child now. I've given everything to Server. I have nothing left now. Not even hatred or regret. All I feel anymore...is pain." She looked away from him finally. "Thank you for listening. I feel...content." She pulled out a radio, talking into it rapidly. "Commence the operation." She said simply. She turned back to face TK.

"I've molded you, loved you, taught you...and now I have nothing more to give you. All you can take from me now is my life. One must die, one must live. No victory or defeat. The survivor will continue to fight for all eternity. Whoever lives faces an endless fight. In 10 minutes, MiGs will come to bomb the hell out of this place. If you can beat me before then, you'll have time to escape." She took in a deep breath. "Let's make this the greatest ten minutes of our life."

"Sora..." TK wasn't definitely not sure if he was capable of doing this anymore.

"You're a soldier. Finish your mission. Prove your loyalty!" She growled, drawing her own pistol.

The confusion was replaced by a burning desire, half simple instinct to fight anything that looked ready to fight him, half knowing it had to be done. He drew his pistol, bending down slightly, ready to fight.

"Face me." She breathed. And then, it began.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21: Two final fights and a lay

They raised their pistols, firing twice quickly at each other, before ducking under the flowers and moving behind different trees for cover. His suit took on a bland while, blending in perfectly with the flowers around him. Mimi was buzzing into his ear, he only half heard it through the pumping of blood. "I don't have much power left, so you'll have to play conservative-"

That's all he heard before he dived out of his cover, flicking on his infared, looking around. He saw movement to his left, and quickly moved behind another tree. Led blew some bark out of it, but TK managed to stay out of harm's way. He waited, then rotated out from behind the tree and began hand to hand combat with Sora, who had been creeping up on him.

He punched, was sidestepped, blocked, countered, kicked, was hit, hit all in a beautiful, almost prescripted, dance. It was all instinct. No games, no going by the book. Whatever felt was right. She grabbed his arm and flipped him over, only have have him land on his feet as if a cat and flip her. But she managed a similar landing, breaking away into a roundhouse kick. TK caught it and pushed her back. It was moving art. Fluid, graceful, causing very little actual damage. They backed away after some time, going back to a sniper duel from behind trees.

TK crawled out through the flowers, almost invisible in his white suit. He looked around, spotting Sora running toward him, gun out. She managed to get him in the thigh as he rolled, but the injury seemed insignificant. It hurt, sure, but he managed to jump up, put weight on it, and disarm Sora with a grab of her wrist and knocking it away. She rolled over to it, grabbing it smoothly, rolling back, and then landing on one knee to fire. TK had already disappeared, being a tree.

"Seven minutes." Sora reminded him. "I'm disappointed. All those years of training have come to nothing!" She taunted. Her answer was a kick to her ankles from behind. TK had snuck up behind her, something you would have guessed impossible before this fight. He swung his foot around, landing it in her face, then rolled away, gun out. But she was retreating behind a tree before he could get a shot off.

And so, it continued like this for another four minutes. Fighting, shooting, countering. It was what TK lived for. All emotion towards fighting his beloved partner gone, the thrill of the fight all that he could feel now. He whipped out his pistol for the umpteenth time, firing in the direction he saw Sora disappearing behind a tree. A hit, rare in this fight to this point. She tripped and fell. He aimed, waiting for her to get back up...

...but she didn't. She lay there, not making an effort to get up, looking back at TK. Slowly, TK moved in, dread settling into his stomach once again. He'd have to execute her. TK felt as if he'd rather shoot himself.

"Takeru." She grunted, the marks of the fight all over her body. "Take this." She slowly pointed at her breast pocket. TK reached into it, yanking the object inside out. The legacy's microfilm. "It's...it's our only hope." She moaned, looking up at him, slowly rolling over onto her back. "Takeru...Snake...listen to me. You're a wonderful man, I'm proud to have taken part in molding you. Now, kill me. Please, kill me." She looked up at him, awaiting it.

TK slowly lifted his pistol up to sight her forehead. He struggled to keep his gaze on her as he began to pull back on the trigger. He wanted to look away as he did it, but thought he could grant her the honor of looking her in the eye as he killed her.

Slowly, he clicked the trigger back. The bullet sped into her skull, instantly knocking her head back flat to the ground. Her eyes closed, her breathing ceased. It was done. Sora, the great digidestined, had been killed by one of her own. TK holstered his gun, and picked up Sora's, looking at it intensely.

He looked around slowly. The white flowers were slowly turning red. The petals were blowing around them, swaying in the wind back and forth. Biyomon slowly walked up to Sora's body, a expression of great sadness on her face. TK considered her, wondering if he'd have to kill her too. But as he was about to raise his gun again, her digital information began to disappate. It evaporated into the sky, perhaps to go back to Primary Village. Or was she gone forever now that her master was dead? Who knew.

A single red rose petal floated in front of him, dancing seemingly. He reached out and grabbed it in his fist. Slowly, he turned, looking off in the distance at the WIG.

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He stood just inside the WIG, looking out the cargo bay door, holding the petal.

"Snake, we're ready to go." He didn't move. "Snake, let's move."

He threw the petal out the door, turning to close it and face Kari. "Alright, Eva. Let's go. We're supposed to fly to Rajan Island and be picked up from there." He recited from his objective list.

"Told you you could trust me." She smiled back at him, piloting the wig across the water. She held up TK's revolver, which she had borrowed from his backpack to defend the WIG if needed. "Want this back?"

"Nah, keep it."

The WIG began to lift off from the surface. TK looked over at Patamon and Salamon, still asleep in the corner. He took off his belt, dropping it to the floor.

Suddenly, a gunshot. TK felt one of the WIGs eight engines cut out and die. He looked out the back, and saw Ken, flying on a hovering vehicle, revolver out. The WIG dipped back into the lake, struggling now. Ken flew up next to the WIG, looking in through the window at them.

"Snake!" Ken cried. "We're not done yet!" He crashed the flying contraption hard into the side door, knocking it from it's hinges. He then jumped in, holding Wormmon in one hand and a revolver in the other, landing hard on the metal floor. The strange vehicle crashed down into the lake.

Ken jumped up, looking down at where he had landed. TK's belt and backpack lay at his feet. He kicked them both out the open door. Then, he turned to TK. Knowing he was doomed in a firefight, as he had no weapon, he dove in. He drove Ken against the wall, but Ken pushed off and TK ended up ramming his own head in the wall. Ken made to punch TK, but he pulled out of the wall, Ken wound up punching the metal wall. Then TK grabbed his shoulder and flipped him.

"I can't get this thing off the ground, we don't have enough power!" Kari yelled back at TK, who was countering a chop from Ken.

"What can I do?" He yelled back.

"Get them out of here!" She yelled back. Wormmon was immobilizing the two helpless, too tired to help digimon in the corner. He was running out of options. Clearly, Ken had decided to learn from past mistakes. They fought for a few more minutes, but one simply couldn't gain the upper hand. It was practically a battle of counters and blocks.

"Snake! Mountains!" Kari cried, pointing ahead at a mountain the WIG was sure to crash into unless they got off the water.

"I've picked up a few new moves!" Ken exclaimed, pulling out his revolver again. "I think i've earned it now. It doesn't feel right...shooting an unarmed man." He aimed, grinning. "But i'll get over it."

"Eva!" TK yelled. She turned to the pair, throwing her revolver at TK. He caught it just as Ken pulled the trigger on his revolver. An empty click. TK aimed his own revolver, pulling the trigger and hearing the same click. Each pulled back the hammer and drew the trigger five more times, but no bullet blew out of the barrel. Both were empty.

They looked at each other for what felt like an eternity, though it was probably just a few seconds. Then, slowly, Ken pulled the bullet hanging from his neck off the chain that held it. "I believe you'll remember this." He held up the round, shaking it. "What do you say? One last showdown?"

He considered his options. It didn't take long, he didn't have any other one. "Fine...alright." He handed his revolver to Ken. Ken loaded on the revolvers with a single bullet, clicking the bullet into the chamber about to be fired. Then, he juggled the revolvers, back and forth, side to side, behind his back, several times, until it was impossible to tell which held the bullet and which was empty.

"I don't like leaving my life up to dumb luck." TK growled as he juggled.

"Well then don't worry, it's hardly dumb luck." He then held out the revolvers to TK, shielding the barrel from view. He looked them over, finally choosing the left one. All the while, he couldn't stop thinking how ridiculous this was and how stupid he felt. But all the same, Ken had the gun, and he made the rules.

Ken tossed the gun to him, holding the other one up, sighting TK. TK pointed his own revolver at Ken. Neither looked into the barrel, scared to see what they might find.

"You first." Ken insisted. TK nodded. He pulled the hammer back, and slowly, pulled the trigger.

An empty click. Ken chuckled, and clicked his own hammer back. TK squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the bullet to tear through his skull. He heard the blast of the round blowing out of the barrel...but nothing. He felt his forehead, moving his hands down the rest of his face...no holes. Nothing had hit him. Either Ken had missed...or...

Ken interrupted his thoughts with a laugh. TK opened his eyes, looking up at him. He was twirling the gun on his finger, a boyish grin on his face. "It's a blank." He whispered. He chuckled again, as if he had just had the time of his life. "Oh man, that was fun."

Slowly, he walked up to TK, and to his great suprise, embraced him in a hug. TK hesitated, then decided to return the favor half heartedly. His brain was still processing all of this. Ken broke away, looking up at TK, the boy he remembered from so long ago shining through his face. He held up the revolver, presenting it to Ken. He shook his hand, shaking his head, turning towards the cargo bay door. He slid it open, looking down into the lake.

"Till we meet again, Takeru." He said simply, giving his salute/wave hybrid, winking, and then falling gracefully back into the lake. TK looked down on him, breaking into a smile.

"SNAKE! If you're done, get over here and pull up!" Kari yelled, snapping him back to reality. He ran ahead, grabbing the flight stick and pulling up. With their combined strength, they managed to tilt it up just enough to clear the mountain. Slowly, they pulled higher into the air. TK and Kari looked at each other, and just started to laugh.

"We made it." Kari coughed out.

"Sure did." TK replied. Then, the radar began to blare a warning signal. They looked down on it. A pair of planes were closing in on them. TK ran to the back, looking out the back window. "Shit, MiGs!" He yelled ahead.

Kari looked back at him, hopeless desparation in her eyes. "There's no way out!"

TK ran ahead to her. "We've got to have some weapons on this thing!" His eyes searched the panel.

Kari shook her head. "And...there's no way I can outfly them. We were so close, too..." She started to cry, tears coming down her face.

"Kari," TK began, the use of her real name starting him to look at her. "...you were great. Thanks."

"Oh, TK." His shortened name. Didn't hear that every day. Suddenly, TK pushed his lips onto hers, pushing his tongue deep into her mouth. If this was to be his last moment of life, he may as well make it a good one. To his delight, Kari pushed her tongue back. It was a great feeling. Not a bad feeling to go out on.

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"I have lock. Got tone. Firing in 5." The MiG pilot reported into his radio. He readied his thumb on the fire button. The other pilot copied him.

"Volk-19, this is control. Stand by, a direct order from president Gagarin! Return to base immediately! Do you hear me? I repeat, Return to base immediately! Do not fire on enemy aircraft! This is a direct order from President Gagarin!"

"Roger that." And the two planes broke off, heading back home.

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When no great flash of light came, after about 10 seconds, they pulled away. TK ran back to the back of the plane, looking back. The MiGs were flying away. "They're turning back!" He exclaimed.

"We made it." She said for a second time.

"You sure?" TK walked slowly back up to the front, thrill engaging his senses.

"Sure i'm sure. Now where were we?" She hit the autopilot button, looking up at him. TK smiled.

But on cue, Tai began yelling into TK's ear. "Snake, get your tongue out of my sister's mouth right now or i'll-"

"Oh, my tongue will be alot more places than her mouth when i'm done." TK stated, casually pressuring the back of his neck with his fingers. He had just saved the world from a great war, certainly a couple of radio disconnects would be overlooked later. Besides, the mission was over. Kari and TK embraced, long awaited passion awakening.

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Cozy considering everything, thought TK. The room they stayed in on the island until they were picked up by their government. Just a few days until TK went back to the SFS and Kari to the BAF. They had to make it count.

They sat in a small room, a fireplace crackling against the wall. A rug made of tiger lay on the ground before them. Chilled wine sat in a vat of ice. TK and Kari held small glasses of it, sipping as they sat on the couch. Classical music came through quietly from a radio on a side table.

"So now what? Back to BAF?"

"I suppose. What do you want me to do?" She looked at him.

"Ever consider coming back to Server?"

She shook her head. "I can't go back there. Not after all this."

"You did save it from a nuclear war, in all fairness."

"I had help." She shrugged.

"Besides, I believe I owe you a dinner." Patamon and Gatomon watched from the corner, as if it was a movie about to climax.

"Hmmm...part of your mission to?" She set her glass down, leaning in on him. "Or an order? Maybe...an invitation? A proposal?" She was just inches away from him now. "I don't take orders from anyone now."

TK grabbed her, plunging into a deep kiss. She returned the favor. They fell to the floor, beginning the lovemaking that had been due since the moment they met in the ruins in Buffet. They began to get down into it, when the phone on the coffee table rang. Probably Tai, trying to get through to TK without his Codec. TK reached for it, but Kari was faster. She grabbed it and chucked it into the fire. The fire roared as this new object was engulfed by it. TK's spirit roared as well, and smiling, they began what would be a beautiful night.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22: The truth hidden in the lies

Slowly, TK cracked open his eyelid. Oh, what a glorious night. It made the ridiculous mission he had just accomplished feel completely worth it. He had fallen asleep next to Kari, dreaming of a potential life they could have together. Maybe wishful thinking, but it was fun.

Then, his eye opened fully, and was greeted by...nothing. He rolled over, looking around. Kari was nowhere to be found. Several scenarios went through his mind, none of them good. He jumped up, glancing over at Patamon. Gatomon was gone as well. Patamon was still asleep, snoring happily on the floor.

"Wake up." He grunted, searching the room. Patamon stirred, but popped right up at the realization Gatomon was gone.

TK glanced at the coffee table, his eyes settling on a napkin and a audio tape. Slowly, he approached the pair of out of place objects. He picked up the napkin, opening it with trembling fingers. Patamon floated up by his ear, watching.

A message written in lipstick. "Goodbye." And a lipstick smear in the shape of lips. He looked down at the ground, his dreams crushed in a single fell swoop. It was unrealistic, but he would have at least liked to have been set down easy. He sat down heavily on the couch, looking at the audio tape. Patamon settled next to him, looking glum as well.

"Does this mean-"

TK nodded. Slowly, he grabbed the audio tape. Old technology, but luckily a adequate player was sitting right next to it. He inserted it, took a deep breath, pulled out and lit a cigar, and, with great hesitations to do so, pressed play.

Kari's voice immediately began filtering through the speaker. "Scholars tell us the first spy in history was the snake in the book of genesis. Eve was tempted by the Snake in the garden of Eden. But this time, it was Eva who tempted the snake, and got away with the forbidden fruit." He puffed, trying to let the dawning realization come in on him slowly. "TK, forgive me."

He considered stopping it right there and chucking it out the window. But he considered this might be the last time he heard Kari's voice and let it go.

"Good morning, Takeru...Snake...whatever you want to be called. Hope you slept well. I left this tape...first of all...because I want to apologize." A sigh. "I wasn't sent by Gagarin. I'm not a BAF spy, and I never at any point worked for the SFS. I am an agent of the People's Republic of File Island. That's right...everything. It was all a lie. I tricked you. I'm sorry. The wisemen still exist in File Island. I had been trained as a sleeper agent, inserted, waiting for a worthwhile opportunity. It came in the form of Volgin and the Digital Legacy. I was to be inserted into his base, acting as a BAF spy who had defected from the SFS. Or Eva. You see, the two SFS workers who defected to Buffet a few years back, they were both men. Of course, nobody knew as the defection was always kept under wraps in terms of detail. I was to kill Adam before you arrived to meet with him, but he never showed up. I sneaked in pretending to be Eva. And Joe, Volgin, you...everyone believed me. The legacy was held in common by Server, Buffet, and File Island. We couldn't let the first two just take it all for themselves. We've fallen behind in DNAT, the arms race, and the space race. As you might have noticed...i've taken the film containing the legacy."

TK didn't even bother getting up to check the cabinet drawer where he had put it last night. He knew it was gone.

"And i've got the data from the Shagohod tests. Now, we can create a deterrent force to rival that of Server and Buffet. Everything has gone according to plan, thanks to your help." Another pause. "I fooled everyone...except for her. She knew from the beginning. Sora. She was the only one I couldn't fool. She told me everything. At the time, I didn't know why she did...but now, I think I do. Takeru, she wanted you to know the truth. She chose me to tell you. That's why she didn't kill me. I've lied to you...so many times, but not this time. My orders from the government were to obtain the legacy and kill everyone who knew the truth about what happened. So, in other words, I'm supposed to kill you."

He looked over at the carpet where he had fallen asleep. He could almost see his sleeping body lying there, Kari standing above it, pointing a gun at his head.

"I don't know how you do it. I can't do it. Not because I love you, though I think I do. And not because you saved my life. But because I made a promise to Sora...and keeping that promise means more to me than orders from my government. Patamon, I'm sorry about Gatomon, I don't think she can handle saying goodbye. But you should know, I think she loves you too. After all, you are still alive." A pause. "Takeru. I promised Sora I'd tell you the truth. And I intend to keep that promise. You will only hear what I have to say once, so listen carefully. You can never tell anyone what you're about to hear...but make sure you never forget it either."

A long pause. TK looked up at the ceiling, puffing away. Did he really want to know? Was he even sure he could trust Kari to tell the truth after so many lies? Then, he thought of Sora. The moment he shot her. Surely, after taking so many things from her, the least he could do is listen to what she had to say. He and Patamon looked at each other, nodding in silent agreement to listen.

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TK slowly walked through a hallway in the presidental mansion, the door to the office of the president just ahead. Patamon fluttered beside him. TK wore a formal military uniform for the medal he was to be awarded to be placed on.

He swung the doors open. The small office was filled with men and woman in suits, holding cameras. Tai, Mimi and Izzy were among them. They all clapped as soon as the two walked in, looking at them with admiration as they cleared to the side to give him a path to the presidental desk. President Williams waited, slowly moving around the desk. TK stopped before him. A woman walked up to the president and presented him with the medal of honor. He took it, and attached it to TK's chest.

"Takeru, you've saved this world from a catastrophic nuclear war, killed a madman bent on destruction, and executed one of the worst traitors in our countries' history. I can't begin to grant you enough awards to suit this, this is all I have."

TK slowly raised his hand up to a salute of the president. After a second, the president offered his hand out to TK. He hesitated, then dropped his salute down to it to shake hands.

"You are a true patriot."

_"Wrong."_ Thought TK. _"I'm no Patriot."_ Kari's final message to him beat in his skull like a broken record. He knew it would haunt him forever. The president grabbed a second smaller medal, and tried to stick it on Patamon. But then realized he wore no clothes. Patamon settled for taking it with his hand, saluting with his wing.

He turned around, cameras flashing wildly. A man walked up to him, offering his hand out to him. The director of the SFS. He looked just over his shoulder into the corner...spirits...Matt and Sora. Matt winked, Sora waved. They were applauding as well. This almost make TK smile. But he could come up with no happiness so long as Kari's message to him from Sora was inside his mind.

He walked right past the director without acknowledging him. He watched his back retreat out of the office. An executive of SFS went up to the director. "You know, I think we could turn Tai's FOX unit into an official unit." He motioned to TK. "He combines the qualities of a soldier and agent perfectly. I think Tai has something with this FOX unit."

Tai, Mimi and Izzy walked in front of TK as he walked out, looking at him, smiling and lauding appriciation on him. He blinked, then coldly walked right past them. Patamon followed. They thought they might never be happy again. The pushed the doors to the office open, knowing where they had to go now.

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The car slowly pushed through the graveyard, moving as close as they could to their destination on car. Slowly, TK replayed the exact words of Kari in his mind. Her message, from Sora, to him. He'd never forget anything about it.

"Takeru, listen to me." TK recalled the tape playing. "She didn't betray Server. Far from it. She was a hero, who died for her country. She carried out her mission, knowing full well what would happen."

The car slowed to a halt.

"Self-Sacrifice. It was her duty. Her defection to Buffet, to Volgin, was a ruse set up by the Server government. A big drama staged by Server so they could get the legacy. And Sora was the star of the show."

The car stopped. TK slowly slipped out of the car, Patamon following.

"They planned it so they could get the legacy and destroy the Shagohod. Only a legendary hero like Sora could have earned Volgin's trust. This was to be her greatest mission."

Slowly, the gravel crushed beneath TK's boots as he walked towards the gravestone he could just make out in the distance.

"Everything was going according to plan. But then, something happened nobody could have predicted. Volgin fired a Server-made warhead at Joe's research facility. Gagarin, in turn, demanded we provide proof that we weren't involved. They couldn't just abort the operation to steal the Legacy. So the operation itself was to be greatly revised."

It was getting close. TK could feel emotion overtaking him.

"Server knew that, to prove their innocence, they'd have to get rid of Sora. And that one of their own would have to do the job. The public could never find out about it. Ever. This, they decided, would be the best way to keep things under wraps. Sora wouldn't be allowed to come back home alive. And she wouldn't be allowed to take her own life. Her life would be ended by her beloved disciple...that was the way Server wanted it."

It was just a few gravestones away.

"That was the mission she was given. And she had no choice but to carry it out. Her death, at your hands, was a duty she had to fulfill. To avoid a full-scale nuclear war. Out of duty to Server, she turned her back on her own comrade. Davis, Yolei, Cody, Willis...they were all sent to their deaths by Sora, to make the act look more convincing. They never knew. A lesser woman then Sora would have been crushed by such a burden."

He stepped in front of the gravestone he had come to see, gazing down on the stone head, and the grass where he knew the coffin full of bricks would be.

"The taint of disgrace will follow her forever. Future generations will revile her. In Server, as a despicable traitor with no sense of honor. In Buffet, as a monster who tried to lead a takeover of the government. She will go down in official history as a war criminal and a disgrace to the digidestined."

He recalled her voice beginning to crack at this part. He slowly pulled out a collection of flowers from the crook of his arm to set on the grave.

"No one will ever understand her. That...was her final mission. And like a true soldier, she saw it through to the end. But I think, she wanted you of all people to know the truth."

He set the flowers down, then placed her gun across them, on top of the grave. He looked over the gravestone. "In Memory of a Patriot who Saved the World" No name, no date.

"She wanted to live on in your memory. Not as a soldier, but a woman. She couldn't tell you herself, so she told me."

Her voice was really beginning to break now. TK could almost hear her mind saying she couldn't take repeating all of this.

"Takeru. History will never know what she did. No one will ever learn her story. It endures only in your heart. Everything she did, she did for her country. She gave up her life and her honor for Server. She was a real hero. So Takeru, you've got to live. Live on. You have to live, and never forget the truth. Sora was...a..."

Slowly, he raised his hand up into a salute, gazing down on the grave, as the last two words replayed in his head. Patamon followed suit.

"...true patriot."

He looked up into the distance. He hadn't cried in so long...over 15 years probably...but this was too much. Recalling every word Kari had told him...broke the dams. Tears came down his cheek from his lone eye, clouding his vision slightly. Slowly, they turned, walking away. TK had some idea that these evens, these truths, would change him in the future. But he had no idea how much.

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Ken sat inside a underground room, a phone receiver in one hand, a cigarette in the other. Oh, how he'd never forget this moment. He loved it when a plan came together. He had a pair of phone calls to make. One, was to Brezhnev. The politician in Buffet who was at the head of Volgin's extremist faction. For all intents and purposes, the civil war in Buffet was between Gagarin VS. Volgin. But Volgin was no politician. If Gagarin was ousted from power, it would have been Brezhnev taking over as leader of Buffet. To act for Volgin in a political sense. Oh, how he would enjoy this. He dialed the correct number, puffing away as he heard the phone ring.

"Hello, sir. Yes. Groznyj Grad and Granin's research facility have been wiped out without a trace."

Complaints issued from the earpiece.

"I understand, sir, but they were necessary sacrifices."

A question.

"Yes, the SFS has taken care of Sora themselves. I think the government in Server will be satisfied."

Another question.

"Volgin or no Volgin, Gagarin is finished. Your time to rule Buffet has arrived."

An eager question.

"Yes. President Williams is counting on us to keep a lid on this whole affair. We've got him by the balls. Good thing to remember in future negotiations. Yes, Sir Brezhnev, i'll keep the BAF informed."

He hung up the phone, giggling to himself. Now, he had a second phone call to make. His coup de grace. Oh, how he'd love the sound of syllables coming out of his mouth as he announced his true self. Even though he had replayed it in his mind so many times, reciting it to another person would be...fulfilling. He dialed, hearing the rings on the other side.

"Yes, it's me."

A question.

"Yes, Sora accomplished her mission. The Digital Legacy is now safely with us...in Server's hands. With this money, the Wisemen may finally be revived. The film Kari made off with back to File Island was a fake."

A discouraging question.

"I'm afraid so. Only half the money has made it back to Server. BAF must still have part of the legacy for Buffet."

A question.

"Yes, the Shagohod has been completely obliterated, reduced to ashes. As has Groznyj Grad. Also, I've obtained something from Granin you might find interesting. It's a revolutionary new nuclear attack system. The best way I can describe it is...a bipedal mech."

A question.

"Yes, we have Takeru-er, Snake, to thank for that. Gagarin believed it as well. They bought our story. They shouldn't be making a fuss. The secondary alert was lifted as well."

A question.

"And the BAF still hasn't discovered my true identity. They have no idea i've been triple crossing them. I will continue my activities in Buffet as a spy for the Server government."

Another question. It made him almost laugh.

"Yes, it seems nobody guessed that I was Adam. Of course, I am always at the disposal of SFS and Server...

...President Williams."

He slammed the phone back down on the receiver, relishing in his magnificent work.

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Okay, that's the story. Thanks for reading it all the way through. To anyone who read it all the way through, could you leave reviews? I'm curious to know what you all thought of it. This isn't the end of the story...actually, this saga spans a very long period of time, so I could continue it later if I thought enough people liked this story.


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